The Chain Of Destiny
by Sapphire Smoke
Summary: ** AU - FULL DESCRIPTION & SUMMARY INSIDE ** What happens when you go from being a nobody to realizing you're just a pawn in the game of fate, destiny, and maybe even the end of the world? •Buffy/Faith•
1. High School: Hell with Florescent Lights

**Title:** The Chain of Destiny  
**Author:** Devereauxx  
**Beta:** supershineygirl over on LJ  
**Fandom:** Buffy The Vampire Slayer  
**Rating:** M  
**Pairing(s):** Buffy/Faith  
**Timeline:** *** AU *** Welcome to me screwing with canon for my own pleasure. Buffy and Faith aren't slayers (yet), Buffy grew up in Sunnydale all her life and is the picture of popularity. Faith moved to Sunnydale eight months ago with her mother and is befriended by only Willow and Xander. I take liberties with canon events and facts and twist them to mold to my needs, you'll learn to either love or hate me for it, I'm sure.  
**Summary:** All her life, Faith struggled with being a nobody. Then suddenly she's hit with the revelation that she's a potential Slayer, and that she and another girl that she's always despised are just pawns in the game of destiny, fate, and maybe even the end of the world...  
**A/N:** Hold onto your hats, boys and girls. This will be one LONG ride...

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**_"_**_The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." – Winston Churchill_

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**CHAPTER ONE  
High School: Hell with Florescent Lighting**

"Ms. Lehane, kindly remove your boots from the furniture. This is a library, not your home."

Faith rolls her eyes and drops her feet off of the library table where she had been relaxing back in a chair. She looked over at the librarian with a cocked eyebrow, "Ms. _Lehane _now, huh? You gettin' all authority figure on me now, G?"

"Faith," Giles corrects with a flat tone, but with a hint of amusement tinting in his voice that he always tries to hide cause he's so _British._ "Let me reiterate myself in terms you may understand then; boots: dirty, table: clean." He tries not to look too proud of his little quip, but Faith can see it sneak though with a little smirk.

"There, see? Now you're talkin' my language: simplicity," Faith says with a grin. She leans back as she digs in her pocket for a stick of gum as she waits for her friends to get out of class.

Giles was cool, as far as faculty members went. Most of the stiffs in this joint looked down on Faith cause of where she came from, but not Giles. Granted, he was a librarian and while normally Faith wouldn't be caught dead in a library – though only cause she's not the biggest reader in the world, at least not for fun anyway – her friends liked hanging out here. It was really the only place they had to themselves. All the other students thought Giles was some kind of crazy warlock or something so they barely ever ventured in there. As the story goes, a couple years ago word got around that Giles was practicing voodoo on unsuspecting students. Whatever. Faith wasn't around for that, she only just moved to Sunnydale eight months ago, and as far as she can tell Giles ain't about to go making little dolls and pokin' needles in their eyes.

This town seriously needed a reality check.

Not like Faith is opposed to stickin' needles in dolls if it gets the job done; but hey, it'd make it a lot easier than having to beat the crap out of everyone and getting suspended all the damn time. She knows she's "wrong side of the tracks" or whatever, and she gets that she ain't cut out for this perfect little fucking suburb. She gets it, she does. But that doesn't mean she's gotta put up with all the shit people throw her way. Her life ain't anything anyone's got a right to comment on

Faith grew up piss poor in Boston and is even more broke now. Her father was a gang banger of the real bad kind and after one too many drive-bys and drug deals gone wrong Faith and her mother packed up and left. Ran would probably be more specific. Ran all the way across the fuckin' the damn country and hoped to hell and back her father wouldn't come looking even though they both knew he ain't the type to let shit just walk out his front door on its own. But it's been almost a year and he hasn't come after them, so Faith figures they're pretty much in the clear now. She knows it's probably wrong and that she should feel guilty for it, but she kinda hopes the bastard is dead. He might have had a part in her creation, but he damn sure was no kind of father.

But it hasn't been all roses and sunshine since either. Her mom started in real bad with coke and still hasn't kicked the habit. They've barely got enough money to get by as it is without her mother wasting it all on powder. Faith gets why; she ain't stupid or naïve. With all the shit life tends to throw at them she's wondering why she hasn't just said fuck it and stuck a needle in her arm just to escape. But she's gotta take care of herself, gotta take care of her mom. She's sick of living in that dingy motel and sick of the life she's had. That's why she enrolled in school when she got here. Her mom didn't really care much either way, but she knows she's gotta at least finish and get her diploma. She's gotta have something in her life that she's done right.

Fifteen and feelin' like she's forty sometimes; it's not the best life, but hey, it's hers. She's a survivor, always will be.

"Hey!" came the cheerful voice of one of her friends. Faith feels a smile creep across her face before she turns to face Willow and Xander as they make their way into the library. Willow gives her an excited wave and then holds up a stack of books. "Got to get you caught up!" Willow was always way too excited about school work.

Faith groans a bit as Willow sits next to her, pushing some books her way eagerly. Faith has the feeling she loves when Faith screws up and gets her ass suspended, just cause it gives her a chance to play tutor. "We gotta do this now?" Faith asks, the apprehension clear in her voice. She just came by to say hi and hang a bit.

"You don't want to fall behind, do you?" Willow asks, though clearly rhetorically as she opens up her history book and motions for Faith to do the same as Xander flops into the seat next to her. "You know how Snyder can be with the 'grr'," Willow says, making a face and curling her fingers into claws to accent her point. Faith snorts.

"Have I thanked you for punching Cordelia yet?" Xander asks with a big grin on his face. Faith smirks.

"'Bout four times a day since it happened," Faith replies as she opens up her book in front of her. "Gotta say, best reason I've gotten suspended for yet. I'll take the heat just cause it was way worth it to see the blood gush from her perfect little nose like that." Xander holds up his hand triumphantly and Faith gives him a high five, laughing a little.

Xander and Willow are the only friends Faith has in Sunnydale. Outcasts themselves, they bonded after they witnessed her taking Cordelia's right arm, Buffy Summers, down a peg or two at The Bronze. The uptight little blonde had started making fun of the two of them with her little group of friends, at least until Faith got involved and damn near scared the shit out of her. But ever since then all three of them have been the target of the popular group's torments. Though after Cordelia made a very public statement in the middle of the commons about how Faith's just a cracked out super-dyke and got a face full of Faith's fist, all of them have steered clear, at least for the last couple of days. None of them really expect it to last too long though.

"Alright, Julius Caesar…" Willow starts as she looks down at her book, ready to get started.

"Dead."

Willow looks up at Faith with a little shy smirk on her lips that Faith knows she's trying to hide. "Yes, he's dead," she affirms, trying not to sound amused, but it isn't working.

"You're definitely gonna ace that test with all your bountiful knowledge," Xander says with a laugh. Faith laughs with him until she sees the look on Willows face. She quickly shuts up; Willow isn't amused anymore.

"Sorry, Red. Payin' attention now." She sits up a little in her chair to prove her point. She didn't want to lose her tutor; then she'd really be screwed.

"W-What do you know about him?" Willow asks, stuttering a little. She's gotten a lot better with it, but sometimes she's always instinctually nervous.

Faith shrugs, "Uh. Roman emperor. Got stuck in the gut when his little boy-toy betrayed him on that… March thing."

"The Ides of March," Willow corrects. "The fifteenth of March in 44BC. The senators were hoping to restore the normal running of the Republic by doing that, b-but all it did was end up causing another war and everything went… _kaplooy."_ She makes a motion with her hands like something exploded. It makes Faith smile a little. She likes the way Willow talks. It's a little weird, but it's cool. Kinda cute.

"Yeah, that."

"Wait, wait, back up," Xander says, looking up from his homework, waving his hand a bit erratically to back up the conversation a couple steps. "Did you just say Caesar was gay with Brutus? Because my version of the textbook doesn't say that and I think I'd rather have that version. It sounds way more interesting." Faith cocks an eyebrow at him and he splutters, realizing how that sounded, "No, no, I don't mean interesting in the _I wanna be gay_ way, just interesting as in less boring than what I'm reading right now… way." He awkwardly coughs, but Faith lets it go… for now. She's still smirking though.

"Caesar wasn't a homosexual," Giles says, butting in as he walks out of his office. He nonchalantly sips his coffee as he wanders over to the morning paper, "He was a demon."

"Really?!" Willow asks, her interest perked. "What kind?"

Faith rolls her eyes. "Come on, G. Don't encourage her like that."

Willow had been on this whole supernatural magic kick for the better half of the last six months. Giles had been giving her books to study it with, maybe just trying to feel like he's needed as a librarian or something since no one else ever comes in here. Whatever. It all sounded like a bunch of fairytale crap to Faith though. She knows some people believe in that sort of stuff, but sometimes she still can't wrap her mind around the fact that stuffy old Giles seems to be one of them. She gets why the whole school thinks he did voodoo now, but only cause of that. In reality, Giles couldn't hurt a fly, and Faith's a pretty good judge of character. Had to be, the way she grew up. Giles might be a little on the crazy side cause of all that crap, but he was the lovable kind of crazy.

He was a good guy.

Giles flashes a look at Faith that she can't decipher before he picks up the morning paper and scans the headlines. He addresses Willow, "He was a Skor-nai demon. They take human form by drinking the blood of a virgin priestess every evening. Obsessed with power, the lot of them. They are how the Cold War started actually, if I'm not mistaken."

Faith rolls her eyes again. Whatever. If they wanna play fantasy-world it's five by five. She sighs and leans back in her chair, popping her feet on the desk again, but Giles makes a _cluck, cluck _sound at her, voicing his disapproval and she slides them back off.

"Come on Faith, don't you think it's even a little bit interesting?" Willow says with an excited smile. "Demons, magic, prophecies?" she looks like she's about to get off on the thought alone and Faith raises an eyebrow.

"The real world sucks enough without all that crap," Faith tells her flatly.

"If you grew up here it wouldn't sound so far-fetched," Xander tells her, which makes her look at him in disbelief. He holds up his hands. "Hey, I'm not jumping on the demons-are-real train here, but I'm just saying. Weird stuff happens here all the time."

The phone in the library rings and Giles puts down the paper to take the call in his office. Faith is still looking at Xander with her eyebrows raised, "Like _what,_ exactly?"

"You know. Weird stuff. Like students disappearing. I could've sworn Mrs. Yeckler was eating them, she kept eyeing me up like I was a big thing of cheesecake."

Faith snorts as she laughs loudly. "You got issues, Xand. Strong ones. Sounds like the bitch wanted in your jailbait pants, to me."

"Hey! It's not as crazy as it sounds, okay? She also suddenly disappeared, right before I was supposed to go meet her after class to discuss my term paper too. It's always been like this in Sunnydale. I think this school is haunted or something," Xander defends, but Faith just keeps laughing.

They were crazy, all of them. But hell, she loved them. Couldn't help it.

"Well… well what a-about Ronald Berkly!" Willow pipes up, pointing. "You were there for that! How do you explain him suddenly having spikey things popping out of his skin?"

"Skin condition?" Faith asks. She shrugs. "I dunno. I ain't a dermatologist."

Faith can faintly hear Giles in his office on the phone. She can't make out what he's saying, but she definitely just heard her name. She starts to tune out Willow and Xander who were rambling off more things on their list of why Sunnydale was doomed, trying to listen to what Giles was saying.

"A potential? Are you sure?" There's a long pause and Faith strains to hear. _"Two?… _Oh, no, I didn't realize that—… Yes, yes I understand…. No, that will be quite alright, I know the girl. Who will be taking care of—? … Ah, I didn't realize Merrick was in town. But isn't she a little old? Why hasn't she gotten a Watcher before this?"

Faith was starting to get more confused by the minute. She's a potential what? Problem? Only thing she can think of, but Giles ain't never treated her like one. Besides, that didn't really seem like that type of conversation.

_"Died,_ you say? Oh dear. All of them?…. No, I'm sure Merrick can handle it; he's one of the Council's best, after all…. Yes, I'll be sure to get started right away with Faith." There's a longer pause, and Faith is getting more curious by the second. Willow and Xander have noticed she's not even paying attention anymore, and Xander's waving a hand in her face.

"Earth to Faith! Come in, can you read me?"

Faith smacks his hand away out of his face in annoyance as she listens to the end of the phone call. "No, I quite agree that the two should not train together. If the Zan'Hurrak believes she is the next in line then she might become a target as well…. Yes, of course. I will send updates as they come in…. Thank you, goodbye." Giles hangs up the phone and Faith gets busy looking like she wasn't just listening into that. She turns back to her friends.

"Sorry, spaced," she says.

Willow looks at her funny, then sighs. "You weren't thinking about_ her_ again, were you?"

"Not healthy," Xander murmurs in agreement, shaking his head a bit.

Faith rolls her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. She notices Giles making his way back into the room, but she doesn't turn to look at him. She'll find out what's up eventually. "I wasn't thinking about Harmony, okay? Jeez. She ain't all that. I'm completely over that bimbo slut."

"Faith, y-you don't have to lie to us, we're your friends. We know how bad it sucked when she turned around and… and started spreading around that you're gay after she… well… did the gay thing with you," Willow blushes a little, never liking to talk about sex all that much.

Faith remembers the day she told them both she was into girls. Willow's eyes almost popped out of her skull and she couldn't form a sentence for a good twenty minutes. Xander drifted off into a fantasy world that she had to slap him out of… literally. But they were fine with it now. Old news, really.

"Yeah, it sucked," Faith agrees evenly. "Didn't need the whole world knowing my business. But whatever, alright? I popped the bitch a couple times and that was that. End of story. Never actually _liked _her. The dumbass can't form a sentence without using the word 'like' at least twice, so I definitely ain't gonna be wasting any time thinking about her, that's for _damn_ sure," Faith retorts in a tone that meant they were finished with that conversation.

Willow and Xander just look at each other skeptically.

But Faith didn't like her. Not really. Couldn't really stand to listen to her speak, as a matter of fact, but that didn't mean she didn't like tongue fucking the girl till she came all over her face. But it's high school, Harmony's reputation was at stake… whatever. She blamed it all on the alcohol and how sexy Faith looked in tube tops and one night in The Bronze she cornered her and they had their way with each other in the bathroom. Happened every weekend for a month until Cordelia started sniffing around; then suddenly it's all, "That dykey slut Faith tried to hit on me!" and, well, that's how Cordelia ended up with a broken nose that day in the commons. She really should have hit Harmony, but she's been hiding behind Cordelia and Buffy and trying to avoid her. And well, Cordelia's just got one big fat ass mouth that was begging to be shut.

But it ain't like she cares really.

Willow seems to be under the impression that Faith's sex actually means something to her, but she's a virgin so Faith couldn't actually blame her. She's pretty sure Xander just thinks she cares cause of the rumors and everything, but she really couldn't give a fuck less what people in this school thought about her, honestly. She's all leather-clad and attitude and it's worked for her so far so she sees no reason to change that.

"Faith," Giles says, thankfully interrupting the Harmony conversation. "I know you're not due back to school until Thursday, but do you think you could come in early tomorrow? I have some things I need to discuss with you."

"How early is early?" Faith asks. She wants to know what he's been having secret phone calls about, especially if they involve her, but she ain't getting up at the butt crack of dawn when she's suspended. The only thing suspension is good for is sleeping in.

"Ten in the morning would be best, I think."

Faith shrugs noncommittally, "Sure, long as me dragging my ass in around noon's gonna work for you."

"Faith," he says flatly in that disapproving way he does that always makes her feel bad.

"Yeah, yeah. Ten AMs fine," she says with a bit of a scowl and a heavy sigh. _Damnit._

"What do you need to talk to Faith about?" Xander asks, looking up at Giles questioningly. But Giles mumbles something about 'her future' absentmindedly as he wanders back into his office. Xander smirks and looks over at Faith. "I bet he's gonna try to recruit you to be his apprentice librarian or something."

Faith rolls her eyes. "Yeah, cause _I'm _the book-lovin' type. He's probably just gonna give me another lecture about how I can't go around hitting people if I ever expect to succeed. He knows my mum don't give 'em to me, guess he figures he's gotta." Faith sometimes wonders why she lets him, too. Maybe it was just nice to have someone that gave a shit

But even as she said that, she knew that wasn't it. As far as she knew, Giles didn't get mysterious phone calls about her violent behavior.

"Well he's right you know," Willow points out. But when Xander and Faith look at her in surprise she backtracks, "N-Not that I don't think Cordelia didn't deserve the whole… punchy thing. Cause she did, really _really_ did. But. Y-You know. Principal Snyder is just looking for an excuse to expel you. The only reason you aren't already is because the school board won't let him because you're like, a genius or something."

"Genius" was stretching it a lot, and Willow knew it. Faith did skip a grade, but only because she retained information well. She was unfocused most of the time; school bored her, but she did get through it rather easily when she can manage to set her mind to it. Well, at least when she wasn't getting suspended left and right, anyway.

"How do you know they won't let him?" Faith asks, surprised. Then she smirks as she realizes, "Have you been hacking into his email again?" Willow blushes a little and Faith gives her an approving nod. "Wicked."

"That's our Willow, always on the wrong side of the law," Xander says with a little laugh. Willow pokes him hard in the arm and Xander winces like the little wimp he is. A cute wimp though, so it ain't all bad.

"Alright, I gotta get outta here. Being at school when you don't gotta be here tends to suck the fun outta life," Faith tells them as she gets up, grabbing her books. "Ya'll gonna come hang at mine later?"

Faith's motel room had always been their place to hang out, only because she lived relatively alone. Her mom was next door in hers, but she never really bothered them. Too busy enjoying the drinking and passing out parts of life. Faith would always come check on her a couple times a day, make sure she gets up to go to work when she needs to, and tried to get her drug habit relatively under control. She would only give her enough to get her through the day without going crazy, just so she could focus and get shit done. Not that working at McDonalds actually required paying attention to much though.

"Yeah, we'll be over there later," Xander tells her as they all get up.

Willow's about to say something, but Faith interrupts her, already knowing what it is. "I know, I know. Catch up on my homework. Don't worry, I got it. Ain't gonna fuck it up, swear." Willow smiles at her.

"Okay, because you know I'm not giving you my notes anymore. Not unless it's an emergency."

"I'm about to fail Algebra, does that constitute an emergency?" Xander asks hopefully as they all walk out the door of the library, all calling back goodbye's to Giles who seems way too involved in his own thoughts as he mumbles back a response.

Willow narrows her eyes. "Don't take advantage of me, Xander Harris."

Xander puts his hand to his chest in mock offense. "Me? I would _never."_

Faith snickers a little as they leave the school. Hell, they might all be crazy. Giles may be the craziest of them all, but she liked having people around. She's never really had friends, not in the strictest sense, anyway. Not people who actually cared. And yeah, maybe her home life is a wreck, maybe she's not the most popular girl at Sunnydale high, but she was happy.

And that's all the mattered.

**TBC…**


	2. Drinking Games

**CHAPTER TWO****  
Drinking Games**

Faith walks into her motel room and put down her books on the bedside table with a sigh. The room was hot, meaning that the air conditioner decided to shut off again just to make her day even more frustrating. She growls in annoyance as she walks over to it, bending down as she fiddles with the knobs. When she gets no response she swears, gets up, and kicks the damn thing and… it works. Figures.

As the thing whirs to life she grabs a hair tie that she finds lying on the floor and pulls her hair back as she makes her way over to the door that connects her room and her mother's. She didn't hear things breaking, which was always a good sign, but then again, sometimes silence can be scarier. She can hear the faint sound of the television though so she opens the door, and she hopes everything is alright. It's always touch and go. Each day she never knew what she was gonna face. Sometimes her mom is up, happy, doing stuff… and others she's got a bottle in her hand, high as a fuckin' kite with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth as she curses her existence.

Today wasn't her lucky day.

She walks in and finds her mother staring at the TV, though she seemed more like she was staring through it. She has bags under her eyes and she is licking her lips subconsciously. She barely even notices Faith has come in through the door. Faith sighs and looks over the state of the room; a fucking disaster. Then her eyes fall on the empty baggie near her.

"Mum!" she yells, angry now.

It was always 'Mum', never 'Mom'. Her father was originally brought up in England, but came over with his parents when he was about seventeen. It's not a piece of him that Faith wishes she had, especially since she learned to call her mother that when he was screaming at Faith, telling her to "Go tell her Mum to sod the hell off before he fucking beats her to death." She's tried to train herself to use 'Mom', but something's just stick whether you want them to or not.

Faith stomps over and picks up the baggie, waving it in her face. "I told you not to go in my fuckin' room! How are you about to tell me to limit your shit if you go and steal it back and do the whole damn thing?!"

Caroline, Faith's mother, blinks at the sudden intrusion to her happy little doped up state and she looks disgruntled at her daughter's infuriation. "Needed it," she mumbles, snatching the bag out of Faith's hands before going back to staring at the TV.

Faith snaps her fingers in her mother's face, but she doesn't respond. "Fuck, you're wasted," she says, though mostly to herself. "Mum!" she yells, trying to get her attention, but she just stares at the television. Faith starts to get worried and kneels down in front of her, making sure she's blocking the TV so she has to look at her. "Hey, Mum… you alright? What happened? You were doin' good this week."

Caroline looks at Faith sadly. "Got fired," she says simply. Faith feels her stomach drop.

"Shit," she says softly. She looks over her mother and takes her hand. "Hey, don't worry about those assholes. You'll get another job." Caroline just looks at her like she's naïve and Faith sighs. "Seriously, come on, you gotta clean yourself up. You can't be doin' this. I'll help you look for another one in the morning, promise. I passed the Doublemeat Palace on the way home, they got a sign that says they're hiring. Maybe you could give it a shot there. Food tastes like ass, but it's a paycheck, right?"

"There's no point, Fai. I'm a mess," Caroline tells her. Which, yeah, Faith's bound to agree on that point at least, but that doesn't mean she's not gonna try to clean up the mess. Caroline looks on the verge of tears though and it makes Faith's eyes widen. She hated seeing her mother cry.

"Alright, hey, no cryin'. Come on. Get up, go take a shower and I'll clean up, okay?" Faith says, standing up and pulling her mother up by her hand to get her standing. But Caroline's starting to sniffle, basking in her own self-hatred.

"I'm a bad mother, I'm a bad employee, I'm a bad person. I fuck up everything I touch," she mumbles as Faith leads her into the bathroom.

"You don't fuck up everything, Mum. Just take a shower, okay? You'll feel better."

Caroline nods weakly as Faith sighs, closing the bathroom door. She hated this, she hated all of this. People wonder why she's got fuckin' anger issues? Look at her life. She tries to pick up the pieces as best as she can, but she's fifteen for Christ's sake. She should be the one getting taken care of, not the other way around.

She starts picking up the mess of dirty clothes and trash around the room as she tries to figure out what they're gonna do for money. She can steal some shit; pawn it for some cash, but she hates doing that. Things get too bad though and, well, fuck. They need a place to live, need food to eat. Her mom needs more drugs and she _seriously_ has to find a better hiding spot for them. She can't wean her off of them if she can grab the whole thing and screw everything up again.

She fuckin' hates her dad for this. It's his fault shit is so fucked up.

Once the room started to resembled halfway decent, Faith hears the shower turn off. She looks towards the door. "You alright?" she asks, just out of habit.

Caroline mumbles something in response that Faith will take as a yes. She cleans up the last of the trash as her mom walks out of the bathroom, still in the daze that her high is giving her. Faith picks up a bottle of liquor. "Okay, I'm not advocating you gettin' totally smashed and whatever, but you gotta pass out and sleep this off, and I know you ain't gonna be able to do that while you're brains halfway to nowhere on that shit. I'm gonna get you up early, okay? We'll get you a new job. So drink, pass out, get some sleep. I'll give you a whole bunch of aspirin in the morning for the hang over and you'll be good as new."

It's sad that she tries to make herself sound all cheerful about this stuff. But she knows she's gotta be the happy one for the two of them right now. Positive and all that "hurrah, life!" crap.

Caroline doesn't say anything, but she holds out her hand for the bottle. Faith gives it to her and watches her sit down, opening it and taking a long swig. Faith watches her and it breaks her heart. Breaks her heart to pieces and makes her want to punch a wall.

But she smiles, like the positive daughter that she tries to be and leans down, kissing her on the cheek. "Yell if you need anything," she tells her. "I gotta catch up on some homework. Promise me you'll sleep."

Caroline makes a motion of crossing her heart, and Faith smiles and does the same back. It was a thing they did ever since Faith was a little girl. She watches her mom settle back on the bed with the bottle, and she turns and walks away, back into her room. She closes the door behind her and sets her jaw as she tries her hardest not to cry.

It felt like it was never going to stop. Every time things started looking a little up, life would throw a whole bag of shit at them and knock them on their asses again. She loved her mother, she did. Caroline would throw herself in front of her and take the beatings when her dad was fucked up. She protected her through that and Faith figures now it's her turn to do the same. Her mom was so strong through all of that though. She drank, yeah. She always turned to the bottle, but it never got bad. But now that she feels safer Faith figures it's just her turn to break down about everything that's happened.

Faith wonders when it'll ever be _her _turn to break.

She knows it ain't now though, so she sucks it up, fights back the tears and grabs her books as she sits down on the bed and tries to concentrate of Caesar and his fucked up little life instead of her own. Least she hasn't ended up with a knife in her gut like him; that's gotta be a plus.

A couple hours later she's finished with her homework, lying on her bed as she watches TV. She checked on her mother about an hour ago and she was passed out, thankfully. She tries to focus on the soap opera that's on but her mind keeps wandering to what Giles was talking about on the phone. Some guy named Merrick, potential something, the Council… whatever. None of it made sense. She was glad when she finally heard a knock on her door; a grin forms on her face as she gets up, bounding over to the door, happy to have a distraction. When she pulls it open, Willow and Xander greet her before coming inside.

"Mochas!" Willow announces cheerfully at the tray of drinks in her hand. "Tonight seemed like a mocha night."

"Score," Faith says with a grin as she grabs one before sitting cross-legged on her bed. Xander closes the door behind them and he and Willow sit on the bed across from her. She grabs a bottle of liquor beside her bed and starts pouring some in her mocha. She doesn't have to look up to know the looks she's getting from the two of them.

"What happened?" Xander asks her, carefully. They both know that Faith only drinks at home when something bad has been going on.

"Mum," Faith replies quietly before taking a sip of her drink. Not the best tasting concoction in the world, but whatever.

"Is she back to doing…?" Willow asks softly, not finishing her sentence. She didn't need to.

Faith was never really one to tell people her business, but Xander and Willow found about how hard her mother's been having it one night when they were over. She was high, crazed, and smashing her room to pieces. Kinda hard to hide that and pretend everything is cool and dandy.

"She got fired," Faith says sadly, "Fucked up. Gonna have to help her look for a new job in the morning."

"I'm sorry, Faith," Willow says sincerely, putting a hand on her leg for comfort. Faith just brushes it off, she hates pity. She moves back a little so Willow can't touch her.

"You know me. Surviving. Gettin' shit done. We'll be fine."

Willow and Xander look at each other, but they don't say anything else on the subject. They know Faith isn't the most open human being on the planet. Silence washes over the room for a few minutes before Xander speaks up.

"I know what'll cheer you up!" he says, clearly determined. Faith looks at him skeptically. "Hey, hey, hear me out. Harmony's having her birthday at The Bronze tonight. Guess who's gonna be there in all her nose-smashed-in glory? I know you wanna check out your handiwork." He grins at her, and Faith can't help but grin back.

"I could do with a laugh," Faith says, shrugging a bit like it doesn't matter, but she can't stop her smile. Seeing Cordelia bruised up might make this day not suck so much.

"I don't know…" Willow says apprehensively. "I mean, what if they try to gang up on you? Like in those movies where the scary popular girls surround the other girl like… like a pack of wild animals! And they're just gonna claw you to pieces! Itty, bitty, tiny pieces! Faith, _what if you get clawed up?"_ Faith has to laugh at how terrified she looks.

"I can handle my own, Red. Relax. Besides, Harmony won't go near me, Buffy's scared to death of me, and I doubt Cordelia wants to get her nose reset again." She smiles. Yeah, this could be fun. "Alright, let's get out of here."

The Bronze was packed for a Tuesday night. All of Harmony's little friends and everyone who _wanted_ to be Harmony's little friends were there. It's kind of sick, really, the way that some of these people gravitate to her, Cordelia, and Buffy. Like moths to the flame. Let 'em get burned, is what Faith says. Fuck it. Better to watch the train wreck then be a part of it.

"Look! It's Oz!" Willow says as they find themselves a seat. She's pointing up at the stage where Oz and his band, _Dingoes Ate My Baby_, were performing. Willow sighs happily, almost swooning at the sight of him. Xander looks disgruntled by it.

"Relax, Xan-Man. You know how chicks get with band types," Faith tells him quietly. She's not stupid; she can see how much Xander likes Willow. Willow likes him too, but is always too shy to ever do anything about it. And swooning over Oz ain't helping her case much, either.

"So why are you immune?" Xander asks her, but when Faith just raises an eyebrow at him he remembers. "Right, right. Oz doesn't have boobs. Or… any other womanly parts," he finishes awkwardly. "That sounded weird didn't it? Can I take that back and rephrase? I'm thinking of Oz being a woman in my head now." He makes a face like that thought isn't the prettiest picture. It almost makes Faith want to laugh, but she contains it so Willow doesn't notice their little private conversation.

"Yeah, sounded a little bit weird, and no you ain't taking it back," Faith says with a smirk as she waves over the waitresses to the get them some drinks. After they ordered, Faith takes a look around the club.

She spots the little trio of bitches over by the bar, laughing and getting their drink on. She smirks as she see's Cordelia's nose. She's looked prettier, that's for damn sure. Cordelia and Harmony are deep in conversation, but Faith's eyes land on Buffy as she notices she looks kind of distant from the rest of the group. It takes all of about five seconds before she realizes she massively doesn't care, and turns back to her friends.

"Cordelia's face looks like a train wreck," Faith says with a laugh. "I'm the shit, I gotta give myself props."

Xander laughs and mockingly bows down to her while Willow giggle a little behind her hand. But then her eyes go wide as she looks behind Faith, making her turn around to see Cordelia and her band of misfits walking over to them looking extremely not pleased with the situation.

"Well lookie here. It's the rug muncher and her posse of weirdos. I'm sorry," Cordelia says, sounding not sorry at all about what she's about to say, "but this is a _private_ party. Scum isn't allowed."

"Last I checked, The Bronze was free reign to anyone," Faith says coolly, leaning back against the table to cock her eyebrow at her. Her eyes shift to Harmony and she gives her a dirty smirk as she licks her bottom lip, making the girl's eyes go wide. Faith laughs a little. Just the reaction she wanted.

"Hey!" Cordelia says, suddenly getting defensive for Harmony. "I think you need to back the hell off. Harmony isn't a disgusting dyke like some people here."

Faith's hand twitches at that word, but she keeps her cool. She just smirks at her before saying, "No, maybe not. But your other little friend here looks like she's devouring me with her eyes." Her eyes flicker over to Buffy, who flushes automatically and looks away, not realizing she was staring at her. She backs up to get behind Cordelia. Pussy bitch. Her eyes flicker back over to rest on Cordelia with a triumphant smirk. "Besides," she says with a low, taunting voice. "I wouldn't come near Harmony again with a ten foot pole. She wasn't exactly the cleanest bitch I've ever gone down on, if you know what I mean."

"HEY!" Harmony yells, offended now. Too offended to even think, apparently, "I was totally clean; I took a shower right before that!" Then her eyes go wide as she realizes what she just let slip. So do Buffy's and Cordelia's as they turn to look at her. Harmony just stutters something and runs off, looking mortified.

Cordelia rounds on her, looking furious. "Stay the fuck away from my friends, Faith. I don't need you tainting them with all your… gayness."

Faith stands up, getting in her face. She notices Cordelia starting to look weary. "Or what? You gonna try to throw down with me again? Cause I got news for you, Princess…" she leans in, getting all into Cordelia's personal space. Cordelia's too scared to even move, clearly not wanting to get her nose smashed in again. Faith puts her lips to her ear and whispers the last part out throatily, "I came out on top."

Cordelia's eyes flash and she pushes Faith off of her, but Faith doesn't retaliate; she already knew she won that round. "You're disgusting," she snarls at her before backing up a few steps. "Come on," she addresses Buffy. "Let's get out of here before_ loser_ starts to rub off on us."

Faith just smirks as she watches her leave, her little pet blonde in tow behind her. She turns back to Xander and Willow who were gaping at her.

"You got _balls_," Xander says, though Faith can't tell if it's in awe or fear. She smirks.

"Big ones, I know."

"The biggest of the biggest."

"W-What did you mean Harmony might not be… _you know,"_ Willow says, leaning in with a hushed whisper. "Didn't she…? I mean d-didn't you guys…?"

"Yeah, but she only does it when she's trashed. She ain't gay," Faith tells her simply. "Buffy, on the other hand…" Willows eyes go wide. So do Xander's.

"Is this that… that _thing_ you guys have?" he asks. "Gaydar? Is that what this is?" Faith can't help but laugh. Loudly.

"I dunno about 'gaydar', but if you just look the signs are easy to recognize. Seriously, just watch Buffy for a bit. Her eyes continuously find themselves trained to big boobs, though most of the time they're so fixated on Cordelia's ass that she can't tear them away to notice anything else. She's good at hiding it though; I give her some props for it."

"But… but…" Willow stutters, trying to wrap her mind around that. "Isn't she with Scott? She's been with him for like two years."

Faith shrugs nonchalantly. "Closet-case. Big time."

"You're not going to… well, _you know_ with her, right?" Willow asks her, eyes still wide as saucers.

"Can I vote yes on that?" Xander asks, raising his hand. Faith rolls her eyes and backhands him in the stomach. Not hard, but hard enough to get the point across. He sputters into his drink. "Okay, sorry. No lesbian thoughts. Brain is free and clear of naked Buffy. Naked you. Naked you and Buffy… oh my god someone stop me." He groans and Faith just laughs.

"Nah, I ain't gonna pop the bitch. Bad enough I did it with Harmony. I usually got more standards than that."

"Good," Willow says, sighing a little bit. "B-Because you can do better, Faith. Those three are just… mean." She pauses and adds as an afterthought, "When they're together." Faith doesn't have time to dwell on that last statement though, because Xander interrupts her thoughts.

"She looked at her ass!" he says triumphantly as he's watching Buffy. "Oh! We should make a drinking game out of this!"

Faith laughs and shakes her head. But hey, any excuse to drink is fine by her. She looks over at Willow, who's looking at Xander disapprovingly. "Come on, Red. It'll be fun," she wiggles her eyebrows a little at her, which makes Willow blush.

She knows Willow is a closet case too, but she'll never say anything about it. Maybe part of her wants her and Xander to be happy together. Besides, even if she didn't want that, she'd never push her into doing anything. She loves Willow, just in no way like that. She's too much of a friend to end up in bed with, it'd be weird.

Faith doesn't wait for an answer, just strolls up to the bartender and gets them a couple shots. She's in so many ways underage, but having slept with the bartender once has its perks. She flashes the girl a sexy smile and says thanks as she comes back over to the table, pushing each one in front of her friend. "Let the fun begin," she says with a grin as she turns to watch Buffy.

It takes only two minutes until Faith watches Buffy's eyes sweep down Cordelia's backside, letting her gaze rest there for a minute before she turns and starts talking to Scott like she wasn't just ogling another girl in front of him. Xander cheers and Faith holds up their shot, Willow sighs as she clicks their glasses together.

"This feels so wrong," Willow mutters, but yet still isn't stopping the fun train. Faith thinks she's secretly enjoying this, even if it is at someone else's self-conscious expense. But Buffy was never really nice to her, so Faith knows she has no real reason to complain about making a drinking game out of her lesbian habits.

After many hours and shots later, she finds herself alone in her motel room, drunk and stumbling as she gets out of her clothes so she can just crawl into bed. She looks at the clock, cursing it before she switches on her alarm, having no idea that when she wakes up tomorrow the world would have gone and changed on her forever.

**TBC…**


	3. Potential

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Potential**

_Flashes. Screams. Death. Agony. Monsters. Faces that contort and change into something hideous. Fangs and growling; blood, death. The air is heavy with the stench of both victory and defeat. Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Rome. New girl. Different girl, different death. More monsters. Snarling and ready to devour. FLASH. FLASH. FLASH. Never stopping._

_Japan. A monster and a dragon. Sacrificial death and the feeling of dread. Blood stained kimonos and a wicked laugh that echoes in the darkness. FLASH._

"_Cassia!" then a rambling of Greek words followed by a scream._

_Teeth sinking; skin pierced. Blood flowing. Drinking, drinking… FLASH. Monster. She's the monster now. Face distorted into a mask of hatred and bloodlust. FLASH._

"_SLAYER!"_

_More screams, more death. Neck snapping; a tiny little boy cries for his mother. Too much death, too much blood, too many monsters. Flashing, always. One after another and leaving no room to take a breath. To stop and think. To process. Then one girl, one girl above the rest._

"_India…"_

***

Faith tries not to think of her nightmares as she walks towards Sunnydale High. She decided that after that mess of fuckery in her head, it's probably best if she just stopped drinking all together. If she's gonna have dreams like that every night she passes out wasted than clearly she's got more issues than a box of magazines. Probably her brain just trying to tell her to slow down, take it easy. Breathe, just for a second. Because more often than not she's been having weird dreams lately.

But it's hard. All of this is really hard. She barely got any sleep last night and she still had to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to get her mother dressed, ready, and presentable so they could go look for a job. Thankfully she did end up getting hired at The Doublemeat Palace, so it was worth it. But she's just so tired. So goddamn sick and tired of everything.

Faith has learned to disassociate though. It's about the only thing that keeps her sane. What happens at home stays at home, and when she's not there? It doesn't exist. So she stops thinking about it as she strolls through the Library doors. Giles looks up from his many books, giving her a smile.

"Ah, Faith. Come in." he looks surprised though, glancing at the clock. "I wasn't expecting you to come early."

Faith just shrugs and plops down in a chair. "Was already up," she explains shortly.

"Really?" Giles asks, surprised. But he doesn't comment anymore on the matter, instead he sits across from her, looking slightly overwhelmed with something. Faith raises her eyebrows at him.

"So what's up?"

"Faith…" he says slowly, fiddling with his glasses a little. He looks up at her. "Do you trust me?"

Well that's a weird ass question and not what she was expecting. She looks at him for a minute before shrugging a bit. "Yeah, I mean… you ain't givin' me any reason to think you're about to screw me or anything."

Giles looks a bit disgruntled at her choice of words, but doesn't comment. That makes Faith narrow her eyes. Giles never passes up a chance to scold her for her lack of tact. "What's going on?" she asks.

"This would be easier if you were Willow," Giles mumbles, though mostly to himself. He pinches the bridge of his nose. He takes a deep breath. "Faith… you know what Willow and I are always discussing? Magic… demons and the like?"

"Yeah…" Faith looks at him like she's not sure if he's gone a bit crazy.

"I know you do not believe in all of that stuff, but it's time you started," Giles tells her as he slides a book over to her. Faith blinks and looks down at the title.

"_The Slayer? _What is this, some kind of horror novel? You know I ain't big on the reading for pleasure, G."

"That, Faith… could be your destiny," Giles says, clearly apprehensive on how she's going to take this. But as of right now, nothing seems to be piecing together. She just stares at him as he goes on. "There is one girl in all the world that is Chosen to be the Slayer. She alone fights the forces of darkness in this world; protecting it from vampires, demons, and otherworldly creatures."

Faith blinks at him for a long time. Then she snorts before she starts laughing. "So what? You're saying I'm this superchick now? Cause I gotta tell ya, I think I need to get your dealers number for my mum."

"Faith!" Giles exclaims, infuriated with her for a moment. It makes her stop, staring wide eyed. "Do not talk about your mother in such a callous way. She is in a lot of pain; lost, in need of your help, and she is most definitely not a _joke."_

"Sorry," Faith mumbles automatically, feeling instantly ashamed of herself. She already knew Giles knew. He comforted her one day when he found her crying behind one of his bookshelves about all the shit in her life. She respects him for it; for coming over and caring; helping. She knows not many people would do that. "Sorry," she repeats, softer.

Giles calms down a little and clears his throat. "And… no. You are not the Slayer. You are what we call a Potential. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of you all over the world. And when the current Slayer dies, then and only then will one of you be Chosen to replace her. I am to act as your Watcher. I will be training you, preparing you, in case you do end up being Chosen."

"And who is Little-Ms.-Special right now?" Faith asks, almost with a mocking tone, but it's too curious to really be a mock. She still thinks Giles may have gone insane, yeah, but… but she trusts him. She has to. There ain't many people in this world who bother with her and he's one of them. She can tell by the look in his eyes that he's serious, that he believes in what he's saying, and it makes her a little uneasy. But only cause it makes her wonder if it's really true.

She kinda wants to slap herself in the face for thinking that though.

"Her name is India Cohen. She's in San Diego at the moment with her Watcher, Kit. She is usually stationed in Tokyo, however. A mission brought them this way."

"A mission," Faith says flatly. But then she repeats the name as something dawns on her, "India? That's wicked weird cause I totally—"

"Have been having odd dreams?" Giles finishes for her knowingly. She looks up at him surprised. "You've been having dreams of other young women. Different times, different places. You see monsters and horrendous death."

"Yeah…" Faith says softly, her eyes wide as she stares at him. How could he know about her dreams? She's never told anyone about them. Not Willow, not Xander, not her mother. No one.

"And you saw India, the current Slayer."

Faith blinks, just trying to process all this information. It sounds crazy, all of it. Some shit you make up while trippin' on shrooms. But her dreams… she knows they're not normal. She's never remembered any of her dreams so vividly. It's almost like they're real; like she's living them. And Willow… Willow believes all of this exists. Xander swears he's seen odd things. And fuck, it's all so fucking insane that she just wants to laugh. But there's another part in her, a larger part, that hopes that he may be right. That she was… meant to do something besides being a Southie screw up. That she has a purpose.

But it's all so fucking stupid, right? Vampires, Slayers, demons, magic… it's all smoke and mirrors and fantasy, right? This is the real world.

Giles can see she's trying to deal with everything, but he continues. "I am a Watcher, Faith, from The Watcher's Council in England. We watch over the Slayers and the Potentials; training them, preparing them. I was transferred her a year ago to watch over a Potential that was said to reside here. But it was most difficult finding her."

"You said 'her', not 'me'," Faith points out. It's the only thing she can really find herself to say. That, and she hasn't been in Sunnydale for a year yet, but the words don't come out of her mouth.

"Yes, well, there seems to be two Potentials on this lovely Hellmouth. I was originally sent to be hers, but the Council has chosen to assign her to another Watcher," Giles tells her.

"…Hellmouth?" Faith asks. Her voice sounds disbelieving and weak.

"Yes actually, Sunnydale is built on one of the many mouths of Hell," Giles says, sighing a bit. He takes off his glasses and cleans them thoroughly.

"Seriously. You. Drugs? Chill," Faith says, but it doesn't sound like she means it. It's distant; detached. She's not sure if she even does mean it. She can't really think properly. All her head keeps doing is replaying her dreams over and over.

"Faith," he says seriously as he puts back on his glasses. "Do you trust me?" he asks again.

Faith nods slowly. It's automatic. She does, but after this she has no idea how she still can. It's too surreal to be… _real._

"You are a potential Slayer, Faith. This is your destiny. I am going to help you fulfill it," Giles tells her seriously. He speaks to her in almost a fatherly tone, if she even knew what that was supposed to mean. She can do nothing else but trust his judgment.

Because hey, her life can't possibly suck any worse. And being destined for something? That sounded… actually kind of cool. She's still not in the realm of believing in demons and vampires yet. She's one of those 'see to believe' types, but she's starting to get a little excited, despite everything. It doesn't make sense why; every logical part in her brain is screaming for her to run, get away from the psycho. But the lost, lonely girl inside? She wants to stay. And that's who's in control her right now.

"So who's this other chick? The other Potential?" Faith asks, trying to keep the shake out of her voice; trying to be strong, collected. Giles smiles a little, seeing her take this better than he expected.

"It would be best that you two never know of each other, I'm afraid," Giles tells her. "You see… there's something you need to understand, Faith. Being a Slayer, even being a Potential Slayer… it puts a target on your back. Those who wish to eliminate the Slayer line will stop at nothing to destroy you all. And this other girl is being targeted by a large demon clan called Zan'Hurrak. They believe she will be the next Slayer in line, though it's impossible to tell if she really will be. We don't know exactly what they want with her, but they have been careful in not killing her. Instead they have been killing off every Watcher that has been sent to her. Maybe to weaken her, leave her unknowing and relatively defensive without the knowledge we bring if she finally does become Chosen. We do not know their intentions… yet. But I will not have you mixed up in that. I much prefer you alive."

"Killing her Watchers? Why are _you _still alive then?" Faith asks suddenly. But then she winces as she realizes how harsh that sounded coming out of her mouth. "I mean, you were supposed to be hers before me, right?"

Giles sighs, shaking his head. "I don't know why I was spared, possibly because I did not know who she was until yesterday. The Council had apparently decided to keep me in the dark once they found out her identity, for reasons they have yet to divulge." He looks a bit unhappy about that, but Faith isn't sure why. Keeping him in the dark obviously kept him alive. "But," he says, his voice more cheerful now. "Now I am to watch over _you._ And I must say, from a strictly non-professional standpoint of course, that I am… I'm very proud to have you as my Potential, Faith. No one deserves this more than you."

Giles smiles at her and she can't help but smile back. This is why she had no choice but to believe him. It was this; all this mushy shit that is so not who she pretends to be, but still is. He cares about her. He wants to see her succeed. He's like the father she always wanted but never got. The little girl inside of her is screaming, jumping for fuckin' joy and back again, and the logical part in her head is getting more drowned out by her by the second.

"Just so we're clear though," Faith says, cocking an eyebrow. She had to at least voice it out loud. "You do know I'm still thinkin' this whole thing's a mess of insane, right?"

Giles laughs a little, but it's fond. "I would expect nothing else from a bright young woman such as you. Tonight I will prove it to you though, if you'll give me the chance."

Faith cocks an eyebrow suspiciously. "How?"

"There is an abandoned warehouse not far from here. The Council has trapped a vampire inside. Chained, of course. Sort of a… show and tell for you and the other Potential, I guess you could call it. To help let the reality sink in," Giles tells her. Faith just blinks at him a couple times.

"Can I kill it?" she asks finally. It's more of a general curiosity, but she knows she has a spark in her eye at the thought.

Giles grins a little. "I will talk to Merrick. If he has already shown his Potential then I see no reason why you couldn't."

Faith's lips widen into a grin at the thought of being able to destroy something. She wonders how powerful it'll make her feel. But Giles notices her look and immediately becomes concerned.

"Faith," he says seriously. "Killing is not something that one should indulge in. If Chosen, you will slay evil and help people. You will be _saving _people. But you must remain grounded. You must realize that your actions will always have consequences and that, if this may be your calling, it is not an outlet to express your anger and inner-hatred."

Faith looks up at him surprised, almost defensive. "Hey, you know me. Lovin' myself." She says it in a cocky tone, almost pushing to have it be accepted as a fact.

"You may be many things," Giles says softly. "But you've never been a good liar. You are terribly unhappy, Faith. I can see it in you every single day."

Faith averts her eyes from him and sets her jaw. She doesn't say anything for fear of either screaming at him or crying. She didn't know which and she'd rather not do either. She stays silent.

"But we are going to change that," Giles tells her, patting her knee a bit as he stands up. "I am going to teach you of a whole other world. I will teach you how to defend yourself. And if my master plan works…" he smiles a little as he looks down at her. "You will learn to be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished instead of dwelling on your failures."

Faith purses her lips together, but she nods. It's still a lot to take in; all of it. But she's curious by nature, she can't help it. Besides, something inside her keeps telling her that he's not lying to her, that this is all for real. Instead of fighting that, she decides to go with that instinct, and her instinct to be curious.

"So what's the life expectancy of these girls?" she asks. She can tell Giles takes note that there is no fear in her voice; only curiosity.

"Unfortunately… nineteen years old."

"Damn," Faith breathes out. Part of her hopes she isn't the next one, but the other part of her is telling her that maybe it'd be worth it. Just to _do _something with her life that actually means something. Do something cause no one ever expected her to amount to anything.

"But there have been cases…" Giles starts, trying to sound optimistic. But he just sighs, "Well, only few that have lived past that age. The oldest was twenty one when she died."

"So, first rule of slaying is 'don't die?' I take it?"

Giles laughs a little, softly. "Yes, that would be an important rule. You also must realize, Faith, is that this is a burden that you alone have to carry. Even being a Potential, it is important that you keep your secret. The Council functions with secrecy."

"Yeah, yeah," Faith says, dismissing that with a hand wave. She leans forward, putting her elbows on her knees. "So when do we get to the you teaching me how to fight part?"

"After you read this," Giles says, pushing the book about Slayers towards her. "And once I feel that you are ready." Faith puffs out her cheeks as she lets out a disappointed breath. But she takes the book anyway. She could do with a bit of light reading… apparently. The book is old and smells like death though, so she's sure it won't be the most pleasant of reads. Though at least it'll probably more interesting than homework.

"Alright, fair enough." She leans back in her chair, the curiosity getting the best of her again. "So this other Potential chick… she's about my age, right? Or do you get chosen to be one of these at random ages?"

"Fifteen is the approximate age, yes. But this girl is a bit older, through fault of ours for not getting to her fast enough; being more prepared about the Zan'Hurrak."

"So she goes to this school then," Faith says, putting the pieces together in her head. Giles looks at her disapprovingly.

"Faith, I do not want you to go snooping. It is for your own benefit that you stay away from her right now. I mean that."

Faith holds up her hand in defense. "I won't go lookin'. Promise. Just wanted to know a little about her, that's all. I mean, what if she ends up being the next superchick? Gotta be in the know."

"_Slayer,"_ Giles corrects in a tired tone. He rubs his temples a little. "And the only thing I will tell you about her is that you are by-far more accepting of your potential destiny than she is. She's giving Merrick one hell of a migraine, or at least that's what he said when I spoke with him this morning."

Faith smirks. "Well, you know me. Been hangin' around you and Willow too much, I guess."

"Yes, quite," Giles says, trying to act like he's offended by that, but Faith can see the hint of a smile making his lip twitch. "But to get back on track; if you are Chosen you will be instilled with special abilities." That makes Faith sit up straighter in her chair. "You will have superhuman senses, strength, speed, endurance, agility, and healing. But that does not mean that you will be… _Superwoman_" Giles says, mocking the term. "You are still human and therefore are easily killed if you do not learn how to use these strengths and abilities to your benefit. But we needn't worry about that now. For now, you are still just a girl."

"Can I vote myself next Slayer? Like stick my name in a hat a couple dozen times? Cause that sounds _wicked."_

"Yes, well, as _wicked _as it may be, that is not how it works. And while I am officially supposed to tell you to embrace your destiny and hope that it is you, I must tell you the truth," Giles says. He looks down at her, worry on his face. "And the truth is that I very much hope you do not become the next Slayer. I hope you are able to live out a long and prosperous life, away from all of this."

Faith feels something tug around her heart at that. No one has ever said that to her. Most people assume she's gonna die young. Hell, even _she _is half convinced she will.

"So…" Faith starts, slowly. "Is there like, an expiration date on this whole Potential thing then?"

"Yes," Giles says. "If you reach your seventeenth birthday and have not been called as the Slayer, it is unlikely that you ever will be. Of course, anything is possible. But Slayers are usually called when they are sixteen."

"So I'm still in the clear for like… a couple weeks," Faith says, trying to figure out how long it is until her sixteenth birthday. Giles nods.

"Yes, which is why I must prepare you quickly. The current Slayer could die at any moment."

"That's comforting," Faith says flatly.

"That is the life of a Slayer," Giles tells her. He takes a breath as he seems to collect his thoughts. He looks back down at her. "Take this book, go home and read it; study it. I will stop by your home around nightfall."

Faith looks at him for a long time, still trying to have this sink in. But she smiles, grabbing the book as she hops to her feet. "Don't know about callin' that shitty ass motel room a home, but alright. I'll see ya on the flip, G."

She starts to walk away before she hears Giles call back, affirming, "I will see you then. Oh, and Faith?" She turns around to face him. "Please refrain from swearing, it makes you seem... uneducated, and I know that isn't true." Faith smirks and shakes her head as she leaves, clutching the book to her chest.

Vampires, demons, magic… maybe it is fairytale shit. But right now? Now Faith's wondering if maybe fairytales are real. Just stories that were passed down. And it all sounds so insane, so god damn fucking _crazy_, but she can't help the feeling of hope that maybe she is destined to do something.

To _be _somebody.

**TBC…**


	4. There Are No Secrets, There Are No Lies

**CHAPTER FOUR****  
There Are No Secrets, There Are No Lies**

Faith was almost off campus when she hears her name being called. She furrows her brow, noting that it was most definitely a female voice but not Willow. She turns around, coming face to face with Buffy Summers who is making her way over to her. _What the fuck?_ She raises an eyebrow at her, defensiveness written all over her face.

"Hey," Buffy says as she walks over to her. She stops a good distance away though, probably in fear of what being so close to Faith could entail. Like massive pain, for instance. What kind of nerve does this bitch have to come up and say _hi?_

"What the hell do you want?" Faith asks flatly.

Buffy looks down, stuffing her hands in her jeans a bit awkwardly as she rocks on the balls of her feet. "I uh," she starts, her eyes flickering up to look into Faith's cold eyes. "I just wanted to apologize… for Cordelia, last night. She shouldn't have said what she did to you."

Faith laughs. She can't help it. What the hell? "What are you, tryin' to get my vote for Homecoming Queen early now? Cause I gotta tell you, Twinkie. It ain't gonna work. You seem to fail to grasp the concept that _I don't like you."_

"No, that's not—"

"Lemme tell ya something, B," Faith says, getting closer to her. Buffy takes a step back instinctively and it makes Faith grin. "I don't know what the fuck you're playin' at here, and frankly? Don't really give much of a shit either. But I don't need or want your little apology so you can go shove that back up your ass where it came from."

Buffy narrows her eyes at her, obviously getting a little more than annoyed. "Fine, sorry I even bothered to be_ nice_ to you. God, that's the last time I try to help out the underprivileged around here." Faith's eyes flash and Buffy has the decency to back up a little more as Faith starts to advance on her.

"You wanna say that again?" Faith dares her. She drops the book she was holding and lets it land in the grass before she cracks her knuckles and tries to control herself not to just pound the snot out of the bitch. She was still on school property _and _suspended at the moment already.

"A-And for the record," Buffy says, still walking backwards, trying to look strong but the shake in her voice in undeniable. "My name is_ Buffy_, not B, not Twinkie, and not whatever else you think you can call me."

"I think I'll call you whatever I feel like, _Princess_," Faith mocks with a grin. But Buffy's eyes have fallen downwards to the ground, landing on the book that was lying face up in the grass. An odd look crosses her face before she almost stumbles backwards. She reaches out her hand and it lands on a tree, keeping her upright. "Run along now," Faith tells her in a sweet voice that in no way is meant to comfort. She doesn't notice what Buffy's staring at. "Go back to your little herd of sheep. Just stay the fuck away from me."

Buffy doesn't say anything; she seems to be in some sort of trance as she turns and practically runs away from her. Faith watches her run off before rolling her eyes a bit as she turns away, picking her book up off the grass. Man, like today couldn't get any fucking weirder – Buffy fucking Summers needs to come over and act like the patron saint of the popular kids. Whatever.

She finds herself looking back at her though. Her eyes narrow as she realizes she's not alone anymore on the other side of campus. She seems to be arguing with an older guy. No doubt the dude her mom's dating or something. Fuck it. She turns away from her and starts walking back towards the motel. She really didn't want to think about that girl. She always gave her a weird feeling.

Knowing the day she's had though, that probably means she's like… fuckin' evil or something. Go figure.

Reading the book wasn't as boring as she originally thought it was going to be. While yeah, it still looked more interesting then homework, it still was a dusty old book. But she learned about the history of the Slayer, which she was more than a litter curious to know about. A long ass time ago in Africa, this group of dudes called the Shadow Men took some chick and used all this voodoo to put the heart, soul, and spirit of this demon in her. It sounds creepy – knowing that if she's Chosen that she's gonna end up being like, part demon, but it was still kind of cooler than hell.

She found herself immersed in it almost immediately, reading about each Slayer that came before the current one. She didn't even realize how much time had passed until she heard a knock on her door. She looks up from her position on the bed. Well, it couldn't be Giles, it wasn't dark out yet. She stretches her legs before they carry her over to the door. When she opens it she's greeted by the sight of Willow and Xander. She smiles.

"Hey," she says, stepping back so they could come in.

"We thought you were going to meet us in the Library after school," Willow tells her as she comes in. "You're always there." She pouts a little.

"Sorry, G-Man gave me homework of his own," Faith says as she plops down on the bed. She watches Xander close the door and she says, "You're never gonna fuckin' believe who tried to apologize to me today."

"If you say Cordelia, I'll have a stroke," Xander says, wide eyed.

"Ha, no. Like that bitch even has the word sorry in her vocabulary," Faith says, snorting. "Fuckin' Buffy little-Ms-Perfect Summers. She came up to me and had the nerve to actually say she's sorry for what Cordelia said last night. I swear the bitch is going for sainthood or something. Told her to fuck off though." Willow looks a little disapproving at that and Faith raises her eyebrows. "What?"

"N-Nothing…" Willow stammers, looking down.

"Come on Red, you can say whatever you want to me, you know that," Faith says, making sure her voice is soft. She knows she can sometimes scare even her friends with her intimidation problem she's got going on.

"Well, I…I just don't think you should have done that," Willow says, trying to put on her resolve voice. "B-Buffy can be nice… she was trying to be nice to you."

"Dude, she makes fun of us all the time," Faith says flatly. Why the heck was Willow defending her? And why the hell wasn't Xander jumping in with his two cents? She looks over and he's scratching the toe of his shoe on the floor.

"Only when she's around Cordelia," Willow says, looking up at her now. "Otherwise she's… she's kind of… nice. She says sorry to me all the time." Faith blinks, then looks at Xander. He's gotta have an opinion on this.

"Xand?"

Xander shrugs, choosing not to look Faith in the eye. "She's said sorry to me a lot too."

Faith huffs. She leans against the headboard of the bed and crosses her arms across her chest. "Well this is the first time the bitch has ever said word one to me about being sorry, so excuse me if I thought she was tryin' to play some kind of game. Besides, really doesn't fuckin' matter _anyway_, cause that still means she's a two-faced little hooker and I don't play around like that."

"Faith, this has probably escaped your notice… but you're kind of scary," Xander points out, which makes her glare at him. "Like that! See, like that. That's… scary. But! What I mean is that… maybe she was scared to say anything to you before, which is why she never did anything until now." Faith's narrows her eyes even more. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not advocating for Buffy-love here. I was just saying."

"Whatever." Probably not the most intelligent answer, but she doesn't care.

"What's this?" Willow asks, picking up the book Giles gave Faith to read, thankfully changing the subject. "The Slayers? Ohhh!" Willow says, eyes widening. "I've read about them! Wait… you… you don't believe in any of this. Why do you have it?"

"Just… reading," Faith says lamely. She doesn't even know how to begin to explain what went on this morning.

"But… you don't… OH!" Willow says, excitement clear in her voice as her smart little brain pieces everything together quickly. She's bouncing a little on the bed. "Oh, oh, _oh!!_ You're the Slayer, aren't you?! That's why you're all with the fighting and stuff!"

"What's a Slayer?" Xander asks, coming over to the look at the book.

"I'm not the Slayer," Faith mumbles, but they aren't listening.

Willow's talking excitedly to Xander, "There's one girl that gets Chosen out of the whole world to fight all the demons and stuff. Girls our age!" She turns to Faith now. "And you're it, aren't you! Oh my god this is so _cool!_ And that's why Giles is so British and knows all of this stuff! He's a Watcher, isn't he?!"

"Hey, hey, slow your roll, Will," Faith says, trying to get everything to just back up a few steps. She didn't expect Willow to know so much about it. She vaguely remembers Giles telling her to keep it a secret, but it's kind of pointless now. "I'm not the Slayer. I'm just… a Potential, or something. I might be, I might not. I don't know. Not until some chick bites the big one."

"Whoa," Xander says, looking just as fascinated as Willow does. He's not even usually up to speed with all of this either. Yeah, he gets the weird that goes on around them, but he never actually believed like Willow does. "Wait… so Giles stalked you all the way from England so he could…_ watch_ you?"

That makes Faith laugh. Of course that's what he'd asks. And damn, the way he said it made it sound totally pedo. "Nah, he… I dunno. He didn't come here for me. There's some other girl, but he won't tell me who. But I guess he's my… Watcher now," even as she says it, it sounds insane out loud. "And not in the nasty pedophile way," she adds pointedly to Xander. "He says he's gonna train me how to fight and stuff." Then she looks at Willow. "You really think this stuff is for real?"

"Totally!" Willow says, excited.

"So he's gonna make you even more of a lethal weapon than you already are?" Xander asks, wide-eyed. Then he grins. "Oh, Cordelia is in so much trouble…" he snickers. Then he pauses as something dawns on him. "Wait. Giles knows how to _fight?"_

That makes all three of them stop and look at each other. The thought seemed kind of funny, which is why all three of them collapsed into a fit of giggles as they imagined proper, stuffy Giles doing kung-fu. The mental image was just too much. "You need to video that!" Xander says through his laughing fit.

Faith's inclined to agree.

After their giggle fit has subsided, Willow's back to being her curious self. "So how… how do you feel… about all this?"

Faith shakes her head, letting out a breath. "Still think it's insane," she starts. "I mean, it's just… fuckin' nuts. I don't know. But… it's like the sane part of my brain is getting overpowered by like… my gut. Or something. It's hard to explain. I guess I still can't figure out how to take it. Reality hasn't sunk in or whatever. But Giles is gonna try to fix that tonight, I guess."

"What's he going to do?" Xander asks, his voice filled with suspicion. She couldn't blame him; she had the same reaction.

"Show me a real vampire… apparently. It'll be chained and shit."

"That is so cool!" Willow squeaks, and both Xander and Faith look at her funny. She reiterates, "W-Well, okay, not _cool_ as in like something that could possibly kill us all is awesome, just… just that it'd be cool to see one? A-And maybe run screaming after. But you know…" she blushes a little from getting a bit too carried away.

"I might get to kill it," Faith says, a little smile lingering on her lips and a spark in her eye. Willow's eyes go wide, fascinated.

"Am I the only one who wants to stay firmly camped in the land of denial?" Xander asks. "It's one thing thinking your teacher was eating students… another to _know_ it."

He had a point. Faith saw it, even if Willow didn't.

"Look, I dunno, man," Faith says, shrugging. "I mean if this is really my _destiny_, or you know, whatever, it's not like I can be chillin' in denial-land with you. Not saying I wouldn't prefer it though. It'd be easier."

"Well I can't be in denial-land alone," Xander says, waving his hand about. "Because if you end up being this superchick and you're hanging out with us we'll see…. super-non-human stuff, right?"

"Probably."

"This is messed up," Xander says. Faith nods in agreement.

"Well I think it's cool, Faith," Willow says with a little smile. "You could be all save-the-world, girl! And we could be like… your sidekicks."

Faith raises an eyebrow, "Sidekicks?"

Xander raises his hand, "I don't want to fight things that could kill me. Just so we're clear."

"Guys, I'm not even the Slayer yet so I think we're speeding across this bridge way too fast," Faith says pointedly. Willow makes a face but relents.

"Fine, I just… thought it would be cool, if you were." Then she adds quickly, "Not that you're not cool already! ...that is." She coughs a little and looks down, blushing again. Faith smiles; the girl's adorable.

"Don't worry Red, I know I'm the shit," Faith says with a cocky smile and a wiggle of her eyebrows. Willow blushes more. She knows she shouldn't be doing this, but it's just too damn fun to embarrass the girl.

Then there's a knock on the door. Faith looks out the window. Damn, dark already? It must be Giles, then. She gets up and opens the door, and Giles smiles a little at her before his eyes wander to Willow, Xander… and the open book about Slayers in front of them.

"You told them, didn't you." It wasn't a question, more of an annoyed statement.

"Oops?"

"This is so cool!" Willow blurts out again, getting up. "We could end up being friends with the Slayer! _The _Slayer!" She's running over to the door, making Giles back up instinctively because of her excitability. "A-And Faith didn't tell us anything. I just saw the book and… and sort of _guessed_. So don't be mad. Canwegoseethevampirewithyou?" Willow lets out the last sentence all in one breath.

"This is exactly why the life of a Slayer, or a Potential, should be kept secret," Giles tells Faith with a disappointed tone.

Faith raises an eyebrow at him and leans against the threshold of the door. "G, come on. You give Red all these books on magic and demons and shit and you didn't think she'd find out? Seriously, dude."

"First of all, I am not a _dude._ Secondly, a vampire is far too dangerous and—"

"But he's chained," Willow pipes up. "Faith said he's chained. So he's not going to hurt us."

"Actually, it's a female vampire, and I don't think—" but Giles can never get a sentence out, apparently. Willows already halfway to his car, Faith in tow and Xander following behind them like he's not sure if he should really be going.

"Bloody hell," Giles says, mostly to himself as he turns and walks towards his car himself. Faith smirks. He should have known better than to dangle something mystical in front of Willow and not have her follow like a puppy.

Once he gets in the car, he says, "Fine, but I must stress the importance that you all keep Faith's identity a secret. That you keep what you are about to witness a secret. And you must arm yourself in case of… extenuating circumstances."

Xander's eyes go wide. "On second thought, I think I'm just going to—" he makes a move to leave, but Willow holds his arm.

"No, stay. Y-You have to stay. This'll be like our thing, you know? You know how some people have a thing? This can be ours," she gives him a little smile that Xander can't possibly resist. Faith smirks and turns towards Giles.

"So we get weapons? Wicked."

"You, Faith, get a stake. As do I. They… they get holy water and a cross because I wasn't expecting to be hosting such a large gathering," he narrows his eyes at her, but all she can do is grin at him, unashamed. He sighs and turns on the ignition, starting the car, before pulling out and heading down the street.

It only takes about ten minutes to get to the warehouse. When they step out of the car, Giles hands them all their respective items. Xander looks like he's about to pass out from the thought of getting out of denial, while Willow looks excited. Faith… Faith was nervous, but she couldn't stop the little ping of excitement in her belly either. She licks her lips in anticipation.

This was where it was all going to come together or fall apart. But either way, something was going to change tonight.

"Do I still get to kill it?" Faith asks as they make their way into the warehouse. She can see Giles fighting with a smile.

"Yes. Merrick has already shown his Potential. She… did not take it so well. But according to him, she's managing okay now."

Faith's barely listening to him though; her heart is pounding in her chest as they walk into the large, open room. On the other side, a girl who could barely be above twenty years old was chained to the wall. Her eyes flash as they come into the room and she snarls. Faith didn't know what she was expecting… but it wasn't that. She looked so… human.

"Dude, this is way past bordering on kink," Faith tells him softly as she starts to get this weird feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Giles sighs, exasperated. "Faith… meet Lucille; a vampire."

"Another one?! Just stake me already!" the girl screams, tugging at the chains that bind her. "I am not show and fucking tell for snacks!" She screams, tugging more furiously on the bindings that held her. But Faith is more entranced by the girl. She was beautiful, that much was obvious. But even with how human she looked, something in her gut was telling her that she wasn't. She steps closer to her hesitantly, keeping a firm grip on her stake.

"Vampires can appear to be human, until they are ready to feed or feel threatened," Giles explains calmly. Faith looks behind her and notice that Xander and Willow were off to the side, just watching wide-eyed, not knowing what to expect.

Giles turns to them and holds out his hand, "Xander, the holy water, please." Xander just holds it out to him, looking kind of lost, and Giles takes it. "Thank you." He walks up to the snarling girl and tells Faith, "Watch." He then uncorks the bottle and throws the water in the girls face.

…And she changed. Screaming in pain as her skin hisses and smoke rises from it. The girl – vampire – backs up against the wall.

Willow screams automatically and Faith can swear Xander just whimpered, but Faith just stares at her, blinking. Her face was deformed now. Bumpy around her eyes that have now turned yellow and she had fangs. Clear as fuckin' day _fangs._

Faith knows she should probably be passed out by now, but she's just staring at it. It's like a train-wreck; you can't look away. Her whole world, everything she ever knew, everything she ever believed… was crap. This… this was for real. Her destiny… _that was for real._

…It makes her feel powerful all of a sudden. A rush that comes out of nowhere and she can feel herself start to smile. _She was somebody._

Giles watches her carefully as Faith walks over to the vampire. It hisses and snarls at her; taunting her. "Go on, _do it._ I'd rather be dust than be your little pet… unless you don't have the guts, little girl."

Faith's eyes flash and she finds herself backhanding the vampire because of her anger issues before she even has a chance to stop herself. It hisses, launching forward to retaliate but the chains make it difficult. Faith pushes it back against the wall hard, the stake to her throat. "Don't tell me I don't have guts," she hisses at it.

"Faith, heart," Giles reminds her. "You must stake her through the heart."

Faith grins a little as she trails the stake down the vampire's chest, finding something oddly erotic about it that she knows she probably shouldn't. She licks her bottom lip a little before placing it over her heart. "Where do you think you go when you die?" she asks her, tauntingly.

"Stake me and I'll find out, you worthless piece of—"

But Faith doesn't let her finish her sentence. She pushes the stake in, feeling it seep through flesh before suddenly its light. She watches the vampire turn to dust in front of her eyes… and then there's nothing. Nothing left of her. She just stares at the pile at her feet.

Holy shit.

When she turns to Giles she has a grin on her face. Giles smiles back at her. Her eyes flicker towards Willow and Xander, who are still standing there, mostly holding onto each other and eyes wide like they were shocked still. But Faith wasn't. Faith could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

_She just killed something._

Something evil, something so fucked up and so shouldn't be in this damn world but it _is._ Everything is real. All the nasty bad shit that Willow and Giles have been talking about. It should scare her, but it doesn't. Because if all of that's real, than that means that she could be chosen to be the hero. The protector. She could be Chosen to do something meaningful with her life.

It was the best feeling in the world.

**TBC…**


	5. Danger: Do Not Open

**CHAPTER FIVE****  
Danger: Do Not Open**

Faith had been training with Giles for two weeks.

Willow and Xander would watch her after school – which she was now back and fully functioning in – and just be amazed at all the things Faith was learning. Hell, probably even more amazed that Giles was the one teaching her. Not with the knowledge stuff, they all pretty much expected that, but when Giles started teaching Faith how to fight… yeah, a bit weird to get used to Giles throwing Faith on her ass constantly. But Faith was getting better; quicker. She found that if she relied on her speed more than her strength that she could gain the upper hand occasionally.

Giles was proud of her, that much was clear. He couldn't hide it even if he tried. He looked down at her with all the fatherly affection that Faith ever really needed in her life. And she loved it, she ate it up. It helped her do better. It made her _want _to do better; to make him proud. They were starting weapons training and although Faith wasn't really the best with them, she did relatively okay. She was better with hand to hand though.

It was two days before her birthday, and after they were done training for the day, Faith collapses in one of the chairs in the library in a heap, sweating and worn out. All her muscles hurt and Giles nicked her shoulder with a sword (which he apologized profusely about) and she's not against passing the hell out right here. She's _exhausted._

"So what are we going to do for your birthday?" Xander asks as he watches Faith wipe the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand… and then watch a bead of sweat disappear down her cleavage. She narrows her eyes and snaps her fingers in his face. "Sorry," he mumbles, embarrassed as he looks back up at her face.

"The Bronze?" Willow suggests, trying to ignore Xander's perverted behavior. "We can put up banners that say 'Happy Sweet Sixteen, Faith!' or something, maybe with streamers and balloons!" Faith looks at her in disbelief. "…Or not," Willow backtracks. "Streamers w-would be bad, obviously."

"There ain't gonna be nothin' sweet about my sixteenth," Faith tells her as she catches the towel Giles throws at her. She starts wiping off the sweat on her body as she continues, "I mean yeah, Bronze is cool. But it's just another night to get trashed, really. I ain't lookin' for no big party."

The phone rings and Giles excuses himself for a minute, stepping into his office.

"Can we at least wear party hats?" Xander asks, and Faith looks at him funny. "What? I like party hats. Can't a guy like party hats?"

"But Faith, this is your _sixteenth birthday,"_ Willow protests. "We have to do something special!"

"It's just a birthday, Will. Don't mean nothin' really," Faith says, not getting why everyone is making this into such a big deal. It's not like she's ever had a birthday party, ever. Not looking to start now.

"Of course your birthday means something," Xander says, looking at her, almost studying her. She hates that look so she stands up, rubbing the back of her neck with the towel before throwing it on the counter. She's not really looking for her friends to analyze her today.

"The Bronze is fine," she repeats, though her words are a little detached.

Xander and Willow exchange looks.

Giles comes back out of the office, looking a bit solemn. Faith knits her eyebrows together as she notices his expression, and so do Willow and Xander. No one says anything; they just wait for him to talk. They can all feel the tension in the room and Giles sighs, taking his glasses off as he begins to clean them. "The Slayer is dead," he says finally, not looking at any of them. Faith's eyes go wide; that only meant one thing.

That someone else was the Slayer now. More importantly; she wasn't. She was two days shy of becoming in the running. She doesn't know if she should be happy or feel like breaking things. She's torn on her feelings so she stays stock still. All her thoughts are rushing through her head and they're making her feel a bit dizzy, so she puts a hand on the counter to steady herself. Faith's never done will with overwhelming emotions, let alone conflicting ones.

"A new one has been called," he says, as he puts back on his glasses with shaky hands. Faith has never seen him tremble before.

"What's wrong?" she asks, finally finding her voice. She can see Xander and Willow out of her peripheral vision as they stare at Giles. Neither of them says a word; they can tell this is serious.

"They uh…" Giles says, seemingly losing his train of thought for a moment. He takes a breath, "The Zan'Hurrak were correct in their assumption of who it would be… and we have no idea what that means. If they possess a prophecy we do not; what it all means… what will happen to the girl…"

Faith blinks, trying to process that information. That meant… "Wait, so the potential that lives here… _she's_ the Slayer now? Who is she?"

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to reveal that," Giles tells her, though still seems to be lost in his own thoughts.

"_Why?_ I knew about India," Faith says, her curiosity making her tone border on annoyance since she really wants to know. She sees no point in not knowing now. They were after her as a Potential, right? But now that she's a Slayer she can probably take them down no problem.

"Faith, please do not argue with me," Giles says, his voice tired. "Not right now."

Faith sets her jaw and she knows she's pouting but damnit she can't help it. The Slayer lives in her town, goes to her fuckin' school… and she's not allowed to know who she is? That's all kinds of messed up. And all kinds of just not fucking fair.

It's also not fuckin' fair that this had to happen two days before she was sixteen. Two damn days. Yeah, it would have scared her shitless at first if she was Chosen, but in the end? This is what she feels like she was born to do. Without it she goes back to being no one. A nobody. Just another kid from the wrong side of the tracks. _She doesn't want to be that!_

It's a startling realization to find that she's upset. Her throat tightens and it feels like someone is pressing down on her chest; suffocating her.

"I gotta motor," Faith says, and she can hear the strangled tone in her voice because of how upset she's becoming the more she thinks about it. She grabs her clothes, not even bothering to change out of her workout ones as she starts to leave.

"Faith!"

But it's just an echoed call in the distance from her friends as she leaves, pushing open the Library doors heavily and storming out. She just didn't want to be around all of that right now. She didn't want to think about how her life is never really gonna change no matter how much she tries. She's always gonna be stuck in this dirt poor hell, always going to be looked down on cause of where she comes from. It's never gonna matter cause she's not gonna ever be doing anything worth it now, right? Fuck it. Unless this Slayer gets offed in the next year, Faith's chance has come and gone.

And it ain't like she wants anyone to die just so she can get a chance. But that's just how it works. And right now? She was feeling a little selfish and having herself one grand fuckin' pity party.

She knows her eyes are brimming over with tears, but she forces them back. She doesn't cry. She just _doesn't._

She's probably some girl that already has so much more than Faith does. Loving, non screwed up parents. Lots of friends. A house. A fucking _life._ God, it's just not fair. And yeah, she knows how much of a child she's being but it's tearing her to shreds inside because she knows she needs this in her life. She has to be doing something, something good; something right. She needs to make a difference, somehow. Otherwise her whole bullshit life seems pretty damn pointless.

It's like what people say; nothing worth have is ever easy, and she's never had it easy. Ever. So why couldn't this be the one thing that was worth it?

Fuck.

She feels the first tear sneak out and fall down her cheek and it just infuriates her even more as she pushes the double doors open that lead out of the high school. The hot liquid is followed by another and another, falling from her eyes with no remorse and making her vision cloudy. She wipes at the wetness furiously, clenching her teeth and telling herself to be strong. But her train of thought is stopped short when she turns the corner and almost trips over someone who's curled in a ball, hunched against the wall, crying their eyes out.

Faith stumbles, grabbing hold of the wall to steady herself. The girl looks up at her, surprised to almost be tripped over, and Faith's eyes widen. It was Buffy. The two girls just stare at each other, each seeing how upset the other is and not finding any words in them to fight right now. Usually there would be jests, torments; but they had nothing. It was almost as if the whole world stops from their shock. They just stare at one another for what seems like forever.

Faith had never seen Buffy cry before. Little-Ms.-Perfect was always so happy. Though, on the flip side, no one has also ever seen Faith cry before. Not even Willow or Xander.

They just stare at each other.

Faith feels a pull that she'd rather ignore. The nice person in her wants to ask her what's wrong, but the logical person in her is telling her not to care because Buffy's a two faced, stuck up bitch. Besides, she has her own problems right now.

But she can't move. They both just stare. Maybe worried who's going to make the first move. Who's gonna move this out of awkward and into the reality that they know – where they despise each other's existence.

"…Do you know?" Buffy asks her softly, finally, sniffing a little as she wipes her tears away with the back of her hand. Faith can see her smudge dirt under her eye when she does it, a result from her sitting on the ground and pulling up the grass as she cried. Faith wants to lean down and wipe it away, but controls herself.

Faith's momentarily stunned from the words being brought into this situation. "Know what?" she asks, hesitantly. She can hear her voice crack from the strain and she winces at the sound.

"Oh," Buffy says quietly, apparently realizing she doesn't know whatever it is that she's talking about; why she's crying. But she doesn't know why Buffy would even think she did – she never gave a crap about her life.

And she's not about to start now.

"This never happened; we never saw each other," Faith tells her finally, feeling the lump in her throat more than she'd like to. She just needs to get out of there, but she needs to make sure that Buffy won't go running and telling everyone she knows that she saw Faith crying.

"I won't tell anyone," Buffy practically whispers, too distraught to really make her voice go to full strength. Faith looks at her, trying to see if she's lying, but she can't see a hint of it anywhere.

Faith nods shortly before backing up a few steps slowly. The two girls' eyes are locked on each other and Faith feels that annoying pull that she needs to get away from. But she can't find it in herself to leave and she idly wonders when the hell she started caring about stupid bitches. But what goes on right now they agreed never happened after they part ways, so Faith gives into the nice person inside of her and bends down so she's level with Buffy.

Buffy looks almost scared of her, like she's just going to tear her down after all, but Faith gives her a small smile. She reaches her hand up slowly, tentatively, before she wipes the dirty away from Buffy's cheek. She watches the blonde's bottom lip tremble at the gesture and it makes her feel all kinds of weird that she's never really experienced. Then again, being nice to someone who she can barely stand was a weird experience in itself.

"Dirt," Faith says softly in explanation. Buffy sniffles a little as her eyes find hers. She then reaches up and covers Faith's hand that's on her cheek with hers, and Faith can feel a warmth go through her. That can't be good. This _definitely_ never happened after she leaves here.

"Thanks…" Buffy says softly, curling her fingers around Faith's hand, holding it, before moving it away from her face. She doesn't let go of her hand though and Faith isn't real sure what to do anymore. This isn't exactly a situation she's ever been in before.

This is getting too weird, so Faith decides leaving would probably be the best option.

She untangles her hand from Buffy's as she stands up, but not before stupidly telling her quietly, "Pretty girls shouldn't cry." She has no idea where that came from and it freaks her out, so she turns to leave. Of all the things to say, that really shouldn't have been one of them. She stops though once she hears Buffy's soft response.

"…Then why are you crying?"

Faith swallows hard, feeling the tears well up again in her eyes as she thinks of the answer. She looks over her shoulder at the girl on the ground and tells her honestly, her voice cracking, "Cause I ain't pretty, B."

She wasn't. She might be hot, sexy, whatever… but she wasn't pretty. Pretty was something that runs so much deeper than the physical; something that she isn't and never will be.

"Faith…"

Faith knows she shouldn't turn back to look at her again. She knows she should keep walking and just forget about this interaction between them, but her feet are rooted to the spot. She wipes away another tear that falls before she turns back to look at Buffy, her chest heavy.

Buffy looks like she's having some kind of internal struggle as she picks herself up off the ground. She dusts her dirty hands off on her pants and leans heavily against the wall, playing with the hem of her shirt a little self consciously. There's a long silence, too long.

"What?" Faith asks, her voice strained. She feels like she's falling into some sort of trap and yet she can't help her feet that are slowly carrying her over to the blonde. It was almost surreal in a way; this whole interaction. It's not what should be happening right now and yet both of them are so caught up with being distraught that they throw everything else out the window. Maybe too caught up in needing someone else there while they break, for a change.

Whatever it is, Faith knows this is a bad idea. She knows that come tomorrow Buffy will be back with Cordelia and the rest of the Brady Bunch and taking shit behind her back. Just like Faith knows that tomorrow she'll be back to doing the same thing to her. But in this moment, right now, neither of them seem to really care. Faith's standing in front of her now, Buffy's back against the wall, but she's not trapping her.

It just is what it is.

It's this feeling that Faith's getting in her stomach. It's not like anything she's ever really felt before and she can barely find words to explain it. But it's like her body is instinctively reacting to the abnormal; pulling her in so she can find some sort of peace with it. It seems to be nerves more than peace, but she can still feel the calm that's settling over her from somebody new actually caring. Someone that she never thought would ever give a shit.

Buffy's looking up at her now and Faith can tells that for once she's not scared to have Faith close to her. Most people start to tense up, afraid that Faith is going to hurt them. Not that she can blame them. She knows she has problems with her anger. But she's not angry now, just upset. Buffy brings her hand up slowly, and Faith can see that it's shaking a little. Her trembling fingers touch the brunette's cheek softly and she tells her, "You're beautiful…"

Faith doesn't know how to respond to that. She feels like the whole world is turning upside down in front of her. Her voice is shaking from the reaction to Buffy's soft caress as she asks her, "What are you doing?"

"I just don't want to hurt right now," Buffy tells her softly; vulnerable. Faith feels her chest tighten and the hot sting of tears in her eyes as she watches another fall down Buffy's cheek. Faith wipes it away automatically with her thumb, taking in a shaky breath.

"This is probably a bad idea," Faith says softly, just needing to voice that out loud. Buffy smiles a little, sadly. She nods in agreement.

"Yeah…" she sniffs a little as she caresses Faith's cheek, wiping away a tear that's fallen. "But this never happened, so I just…" Her glistening eyes scan Faith's face for a moment. Fear hits the younger girl as she thinks Buffy's about to kiss her and screw with the balance of reality, but Buffy just wraps her arms around her neck and pulls her into a hug instead.

Faith's shocked still for a moment. She's still trying to process what the hell is going on, but her arms snake around Buffy's waist of their own accord as she pulls her closer to her. They just stand there, the two of them, embracing for what feels like forever as both of their eyes spill tears.

Yeah, this never happened. This is too weird for this to ever have really happened.

When they finally step away from each other, both of them have seemed to have calmed down a little. Buffy gives her a small smile, almost a thank you, and Faith returns it. She realizes her hands are shaking so she shoves them in her pockets, looking down at the ground as she steps further away from her. "Never happened," she repeats softly.

"I know," Buffy says quietly, and Faith's eyes flicker to hers before she takes another step back. It takes forever, but finally she's able to move more, and she turns, walking away.

She doesn't look back; she knows she can't. It was too weird, all of it. It wasn't supposed to happen. Girls like them are never meant to ever have any kind of moment of mutual understanding and respect. But they did, and Faith sighs as she speeds up her pace, running a shaky hand through her hair as she walks away from the school and back towards her motel room.

Well, that's one thing Faith's going to tuck away in the back of her mind and label 'DANGER: DO NOT OPEN.' She knows it would just confuse her life even more. She doesn't want to analyze what she just felt and what the hell that even means because it just… it doesn't make any sense. And if Faith can't rationalize it, she can't deal. She can say that yeah, they were both upset and they just needed some comfort, maybe from someone they won't have to deal with every day. It makes sense on the outside, but once you dig deeper… there's something she can't figure out. She's also pretty sure she doesn't ever want to figure it out too.

She doesn't like Buffy. She's selfish, annoying, two-faced, and just plain fuckin' mean most of the time. She never wants to ever look at her as something more than that. She never wants to see her as a person with actual feelings.

So she files it away, pushing it out of her mind. That never happened.

Faith walks into her hotel room and automatically grabs her mother's stash she had hidden away behind a painting on the wall. She needed to check on her; see if everything was okay. Give her mother her daily dose of disaster, whatever. She sighs as she looks at the tiny baggie in her hand and has the urge to set herself up a line, but pushes that away quickly. The last thing she needs to become is a drug addict. She's better than that. She has to be.

Faith opens the door that separates her and Caroline's room and her mother looks up as she sees her enter. She gives her a smile. Thank god it's one of her good days; she doesn't think she can deal with another bad one right now. "Hey," Faith says softly, shuffling inside.

"Hi honey, how was school?"

Faith just shrugs, not feeling much life in her. She hands her mother her drugs and sighs, flopping on the bed next to her. "It was school," she says flatly.

Caroline frowns a bit as she shakes her baggie, loosening the powder. She puts a hand on Faith's back comfortingly. "You wanna talk about it?" She can always tell when something's off with her daughter. Faith just shrugs again, leaning her head on her mom's shoulder. Caroline runs her fingers through her hair. "Tell me what happened."

"Nothing, I'll be fine. Just a fucked up day. Whatever," Faith avoids. Caroline doesn't push her. She starts setting up a line on her bedside table and then hands Faith back the bag, who shoves it in her pocket and hands her a dollar bill. Caroline smiles at her a little softly and starts rolling the bill.

"Turn around," she tells her.

Faith sighs heavily. "Mum, it's not like I don't—"

"Turn around," Caroline says firmly. Faith sighs and turns her back from her. This is always so pointless; she knows her mother does drugs. But Caroline never wants her to actually _see_ her doing them. She hears the sound of her snorting up the cocaine and turns back around to face her once she's done.

"I got homework," Faith tells her, standing up. She just needs to be alone right now.

"Okay, sweetie. But if you want to talk…"

"I know, Mum. Thanks," Faith says with a small smile before she turns and leaves the room. After she closes the door behind her she leans against it, staring out the window on the opposite side of the room.

She hated today.

**TBC…**


	6. Not Much Cause for Celebration

_**A/N: I find it amusing that I end up posting the chapter about Faith's birthday on MY birthday (we can pretend I'm turning 16 too.*ahem* LOL). Anyway, thanks for all the reviews you guys! I really appreciate all the feedback.**_

**CHAPTER SIX****  
Not Much Cause for Celebration**

Faith's never been real big on birthdays.

Frankly, she's never thought there was much of a reason to celebrate the day she was born. Celebrate her life, whatever. It's not really anything that calls for that sort of thing. Not that she's the emo suicidal type; she's more along the lines of indifferent about it all. She's on this earth, okay yeah, but no reason to throw one big hurrah over it. Life sure as hell hasn't thrown one big hurrah over her.

Willow and Xander didn't ask about why she stormed out two days ago. They didn't have to, they already knew. They didn't talk about it, though probably because they know Faith's not real big on the taking out her issues thing. They would give her small smiles though, nothing big, but enough for her to know that they were there for her when she needed them.

She's still upset about the whole Slayer thing. That probably won't be going away any time soon. But she's still training with Giles; preparing for the "what if's" in life.

Whatever happened between her and Buffy that day was definitely over. Cordelia and Harmony were up to their usual tricks and Buffy was right alongside with them. Faith tried like hell not to notice how Buffy's heart didn't exactly seem into the whole jesting and torments, but only cause it's easier for both of them if she just goes back to the way it was. Then again, Buffy's never been one to be outright mean; only backing up Cordelia and Harmony when she's expected to, but the last two days she's been going out of her way to do it. Like she said; heart not totally in it, but she was damn well trying. Probably cause it freaked her out as much as Faith; what went on.

Not like Faith's really gonna complain. She'd rather hate the bitch then actually give a shit about her. Hating is just easier, which is what Buffy seems to be exercising as well. Hell, hating was far less fuckin' complicated.

But now it was her sixteen birthday and she was at The Bronze with Willow and Xander who were wearing party hats. Xander was far too into the idea and Faith relented with a scowl as he pulls one over her head, the rubber band smacking her chin a bit. She narrows her eyes at him but he just grins.

"Just be happy I didn't let Willow hang the banner she made," Xander tells her with a goofy grin. Faith rolls her eyes.

"It was a nice banner!" Willow protests, a little pout on her lips. She looks at Faith then in all her party hat glory and smiles, "Aw, you look cute, Faith." Faith flashes her eyes at her, trying to look menacing, but Willow just giggles.

Faith idly remembers when her scary looks used to actually have an effect on them. Not so much anymore.

"Cute," Faith mumbles under her breath, annoyed, as she goes to take off the party hat. Xander practically jumps on her before she has a chance though, tripping a bit as he falls into her lap, hands firmly planted on her head to keep the hat on. Faith cocks an eyebrow at him.

"Xand, while I know you like the ogle the goodies every now and then, climbin' on top of me ain't swaying me from the gay side of the tracks."

Xander looks flustered as he gets off of her. "I wasn't… I didn't— your hat!" he points out feebly. It makes Faith laugh a little and she slaps him on the back.

"Relax. I'm just fuckin' with you. I'll keep the damn thing on if it makes you happy." She adjusts the string a bit underneath her chin though; annoyed with the way it dug into her. "I probably look wicked retarded in this thing, but hey, if it gets your rocks off…" She smirks.

"There are no rocks!" Xander protests, embarrassed as he scrambles back to his seat. "There's never been any rocks with you or any party hats involved! Especially not with you wearing said party hat right now!"

Faith just smirks more. "Dude, you seriously need to get laid. You're wound _way _too tight." Xander decides to just focus on his drink in front of him instead of looking at her and babbling out more stupid things.

Willow's looking at her disapprovingly.

"What?"

"You're grumpy today," Willow comments.

"Hey, I was just jokin' around, how does that make me grumpy?" Faith protests as she picks up her drink and takes a good long sip.

"You… you get all sexual when you're grumpy and trying to hide it," Willow observes. Faith narrows her eyes.

"You better not be studying me for that Psych college course your taking."

"N-No, I'm… I'm not. Just… noticed," Willow says, flushing a little. It makes Faith actually wonder if she really is studying her for some kind of school project. That'd be all kinds of fucked up.

"Well I ain't real big on birthdays," Faith tells her flatly, but honestly.

"We're going to change that!" Willow says excitedly as she gets up. "W-We got you a cake!" And then she darts off into the other direction, leaving Faith to stare after her, then shifting her line of site to Xander.

"Gimme the liquor bottle."

Xander laughs but hands it over to her, making sure to keep it hidden from the employees. They didn't really like people bringing in their own stuff, but Faith drank like a fish and didn't have enough money in her pockets to pay for all of that. She takes a couple long swigs, feeling the alcohol burn down her throat.

"It's just a cake," Xander says, looking at Faith like her reaction towards it is bordering on hilarious.

"Says you," she says flatly and takes another couple of gulps.

It's not like she doesn't like cake. Cake's a great fuckin' food, whatever. The thing that goes along with cake though is the candles and the singing, and _oh god _she needs to be fucking drunk for all of that. She spots Willow heading in her direction with a large cake and she damn near downs the entire bottle in one go. Xander's eyes go wide.

"You should probably slow down…"

"I'm good," Faith says, feeling her head cloud a bit as it starts to kick in slowly. Okay, she can do this. She can let them do the candles and the happy birthday singing bullshit. Only cause they're her friends and maybe cause she doesn't want to make Willow pout again.

She remembers when she used to not give a shit. Then she also remembers when she didn't have any friends, so not giving a shit kinda pales in comparison on the list of suckier things.

Willow's all smiles and joy as she comes over with the big cake, setting it down in front of her. "Happy Birthday, Faith!"

Faith looks down at the cake and reads the words they spelled out. _Happy Birthday Faith! The #1 Potential Slayer. _Faith can feel herself smiling before she can stop it. She chuckles a little, shaking her head, "You guys are nuts…"

Willow's positively beaming though and Xander looks proud of himself as well. "We thought you'd get a kick out of it," Xander tells her with a shrug. "And it's not like anyone else around here is going to understand what it means." Faith nods; that's true. They'd probably think she's trying out to be in a gang, which would be funny as hell anyway.

Faith ain't gonna jump for joy over it though, ain't gonna say that yeah, it makes her really fuckin' happy, even though it does. She just ain't the gushing type, but she smiles and says, "I dig it. It's cool," while completely ignoring that she feels like she wants to bounce around.

She'll blame the liquor on that though.

"And look! Look at the candles!" Willow says excitedly as she pulls them out. "I carved them to look like little stakes!" And sure enough, she did. Sticking the pointy end into the cake, Faith can do nothing else but laugh at how cute and excitable she's being.

Honestly, it ain't so bad; the birthday thing. Her friends were making it suck a whole lot less, that's for sure. Even if this ain't her idea of a party, she's enjoying herself.

And she's kind of drunk already. That shit was starting to hit her _fast._ Maybe she should have slowed down. She might have a tolerance, but she was still only sixteen.

But she didn't mind it so much. It was starting to make her loosen up about the whole birthday party deal, and when Willow and Xander lit the candles and started singing "Happy Birthday" (Xander decided that the version 'you live in a zoo' would be better) she was giggling and feeling alright.

"Make a wish!" Willow exclaims, clapping her hands together a little.

Faith purses her lips together as she pretends to think. But she already knows what she wants. She leans up on the stool, hovering over the cake, and as she blows out the candles she wishes: _I wish I was the Slayer._

Their party is interrupted though by none other than the Queen Bitch herself, who apparently decided that since Faith inadvertently ruined Harmony's birthday by outing her, she had to return the favor. The ruining part, anyway. Faith's been outted more times by them that it really doesn't even bother her anymore. She's never been one to shout her business at the world, but after awhile it just gets kinda fuckin' old; repetitive.

"Like celebrating _your_ birth is any cause of celebration," Cordelia says irritably as she waltzes right up to their table, her two blonde minions in tow.

Faith, in all her drunken haze, lets that get to her probably more than it should. Only cause she was thinking the same thing herself not thirty minutes ago. She turns around slowly, her gaze situated on the brunette. "You lookin' to get your face rearranged again? Ain't on school property, worst they can do is kick me out."

"Wrong, Slut-O-Rama. Worst that can happen is that I press charges on your skanky ass."

Faith stands up then, getting in her face. "Do it," she snarls. "I fuckin' _dare _you."

"Faith…" Willow warns softly, but Faith doesn't listen to her.

"Hey!" Buffy says, finally finding some kind of voice and stepping in front of Cordelia, almost protecting her. "How about you back off of her?" Faith raises her eyebrows at Buffy's sudden boldness. Damn, look who grew a pair. She licks her bottom lip a little as she takes in the sight of Buffy with big girl panties on.

"Stickin' up for your girlfriend now? That's kinda sweet, B."

Yeah, their little moment they had the other day was definitely over.

"My name is _Buffy,"_ Buffy tells her, her eyes flashing. Faith ain't gonna lie; it's kind of a turn on. Not cause of Buffy or whatever. Maybe she's just drunk, but the feisty part of the blonde was looking a lot more delicious than she would have expected.

She practically leers at her, and it makes Buffy's eyes go wide, but not before her eyes swept down Faith's body, taking in every inch of her form. It was quick, but Faith caught it.

Faith just kinda wants to fuck with her. It'd be funny just cause she's drunk and hey, it's her birthday. She can screw with people if she wants to, or however that song goes.

Her eyes never break contact with hers as her finger trails down the side of the cake, getting some of the frosting on her finger. Buffy seems to be almost mesmerized as Faith brings it up to her full lips before she wraps her mouth around her finger, sucking it gently, making note of how Buffy's pupils seem to darken. She smirks and asks, "You want a taste, B?" There were so many innuendoes in that she didn't even know where to start.

"Ew, gross!" Cordelia exclaims loudly, disgusted.

That seems to snap Buffy out of whatever place she found herself in five minutes ago. Her eyes harden and she pushes Faith back, making her actually _stumble. _She has to hold onto the table to support herself so she doesn't fall. Damn, she must be drunker than she thought, because Buffy doesn't look like she'd be all that strong.

"I'd never be that desperate," Buffy spits out at her, clearly more furious that Faith actually got a reaction out of her. That knowledge right there is the only reason Faith doesn't start pounding on her for pushing her. She just smirks. She still won that round; least on the field she's been playing.

"Oh please, Twinkie. I see the way you look at me, hell, even the way you look at Queen Bitch over here. You'd be _begging _me to touch you just a little bit more…"

Faith knows she should stop – knows this has gone way past the usual, but she's drunk, fuckin' pissed, even more fuckin' horny, and it's just too damn easy to screw with a closet case like Buffy.

"Ugh, let's get out of here before I start breaking out in hives," Cordelia says with a disgusted scoff as she puts her hand on Buffy's arm, trying to lead her away, but Buffy doesn't move, she's just _seething_ as she stares at Faith. "Uh, hello? Buffy? Leaving now."

"Go on with your girlfriend, Princess," Faith mocks. "Let her walk in front of you so you can stare at her ass like you can't get enough of it. I know how much you like that."

Faith knows she's asking for it. She just doesn't know what exactly she's asking for at this point. She's too drunk and too pissed to think straight.

Apparently Buffy is too. Pissed that is, cause she can tell she ain't drunk.

She rips her arm away from Cordelia and has her hands on Faith faster than the younger girl can even comprehend. When her back collides with the wall and pain shoots down her spine she can hear the combined cries of "Buffy!" and "Faith!" from both of their circle of friends. Faith tries to move, tries to get the bitch off of her so she can just fucking kill her, but finds she's pinned. God, she's never drinking again if it's affecting her strength this badly.

"Buffy! What is your damage?!" Cordelia yells at her friend, clearly thinking that they were above physical violence. That they were the girls who press charges, not get charges dealt on them.

"Stay out of this Cordelia!" Buffy yells at her, to which Cordelia scoffs, gives an overly dramatic flick of her hair and storms off.

"Come on Harmony. Buffy's obviously been infected by _loser."_ The two leave, clearly able to dump friends as if it's the easiest thing in the world. Strangely, Buffy doesn't even seem to care.

"L-Leave Faith alone!" Willow stammers, eyes wide as she watches Faith be powerless to a woman half her size. It was a bit fucked up, that's for sure. But neither Buffy or Faith are playing much attention; they're just staring at each other. Their eyes pierce into each other, tying to dominate the other without words for a second.

"Couldn't wait to get your hot little body pressed against me, huh?" Faith says, using sexuality to try to disarm her since she's too trashed to even get out of this on her own. Then again, it was her mouth that got her into this mess. She ain't gonna lie; her pride is taking an ass whoopin' right now.

"You don't know the first thing about me," Buffy hisses, her face much too close for comfort. It really does nothing to dull the itch she's feeling right now. She might hate her, might fuckin' want to bash her head into the nearest wall just for kicks, but she was intoxicated and something about dominant Buffy was getting her all kinds of hot.

Not that she'd fuck her. She's still got her standards. She ain't opposed to thinking about it later when she's fucking herself though. Just as long as no one knows.

Xander's starting to come over, now out of his little daze that was two girls fighting, and is probably gonna try to break it up. But Faith doesn't want him too; some sick little part of her likes this. "I got this Xand," she says, but doesn't even look at him. She sees him stop out of her peripheral vision and she presses her lower half of her body firmly into Buffy. She watches her zone out for a second from the feeling.

"I know more than you'd think, B," Faith says, her voice low and husky from her arousal. "You can stand there and act like you're straight as a fuckin' arrow, but I can see…" she chuckles a little as she pushes into her more, making Buffy let out a tiny breath, "I can _feel _what I do to you…"

"You're disgusting," Buffy tells her in a low voice, her anger clear, getting even worse as the situation continues and Faith pushes her buttons. "Even if I was gay… I'd _never _sleep with you." She pushes her back again, letting Faith go as she turns to walk away, trying to get back some of her self control.

But Faith's furious. She dusts herself off, trying to get a hold of her pride again as she snaps, "So what? I'm not good enough to fuck but I'm good enough for you to cry all over?" She knows she shouldn't have gone there; that place was completely off limits.

That makes Buffy turn around quickly. "In case you forgot, you were crying all over me too." Faith's eye's flash as she just lays that out in the open for anyone to play with. Buffy shakes her head in disgust, "Just go to hell, Faith. God, I can't believe I ever thought…"

"Ever thought what?" Faith snaps, now past caring at this point. She'll deal with the crying thing later.

Buffy gives her a little laugh, which is more scornful than anything. "You and I have something in common. And if you took your head out of your ass for one second, you might be able to see it." Her eyes glance over at something on the table, but Faith doesn't follow her gaze. She's just staring at her. "But you know what?" Buffy goes on, "I don't want to know you. Stay away from me."

Faith yells after her as she goes, but Buffy doesn't turn around. Her hand balls up into a fist and she screams a little as she punches the wall, knowing that's gonna hurt like hell in the morning but not caring in the slightest. "I _hate_ her!" she yells, at no one in particular.

Her knuckles are already starting to throb from that stupid move and she covers her fist with her hand as she rubs it. Fuck this. Fuck _her._ She hates Cordelia, but there's just something about Buffy that makes her want to take an axe and do things with it other than cut wood. She drives her fuckin' insane; more than is even normal. There's no reason why she should get under her skin like this.

"Faith?" Willow asks cautiously, coming up to her. "A-Are you okay?"

"Fine," Faith says, not being able to hide the anger. She takes a breath and runs her fingers though her hair. "I just… gotta get the fuck outta here."

"You want us to come with you? We can bring the cake," Xander offers.

Faith's about to tell them no, that she just needs to be alone, but she feels bad. They were trying to give her a nice birthday and she screwed it up because of her big fat mouth and her need to be the one on top. She just nods shortly, not trusting her words to not come out harsh.

When they get to her hotel room, Willow and Xander do their best to cheer her up. They stay clear from the topic of Buffy and Faith crying all over each other, which she was grateful for. She knows they're gonna ask at some point, but they don't wanna make her day even worse by bringing up Buffy. They're starting to get that the girl is a sore spot for her, even though they don't know why. Faith doesn't even know why she bothers her this badly.

They eat cake, they give her presents, and Faith starts to calm down. She jokes with Xander about his present; a very tight pair of leather pants, which yeah, totally suit her, but she couldn't resist poking fun about how he probably just bought them to see how fabulous her ass would look all squeezed into them. She was rewarded with him turning bright red and stuttering for a few minutes.

But it wasn't bad. As far as her birthdays went, this one was by far the most successful, even with the added Buffy drama. They said goodbye and left after a couple hours, leaving Faith to lie on her back and just stare at the ceiling, trying to figure out why the hell some stupid bitch has the power to drive her so damn crazy.

She can't think of an answer though and soon the liquor takes its toll and she passes out, clothes and all, she hopes that next time she decides to put her foot in her mouth, she at least won't be intoxicated so she can deal with the backlash.

Because really, getting bested by Buffy Summers? That's so many fuckin' ways of not cool.

**TBC…**


	7. Secrets That Destroy Us

_**A/N: This chapter has a trigger warning for mentions of (non graphic) rape. It's emotional though and therefore I figure it could be triggering to some. But there is still stuff in this chapter you need to read, so if you prefer to skip the part about the rape it'll be between [trigger warning] and [/trigger warning]. Just keeping things on the safe side. Also, the story rating has changed to M to accommodate that.  
**_

**CHAPTER SEVEN****  
Secrets That Destroy Us**

Faith's hangover wasn't as obnoxious as she expected it to be.

After dragging her ass out of bed, taking a shower, and poppin' a couple aspirin, she looks at the clock. About time for her mother's daily dose. She sighs, not even bothering to wish that her life were different since it would be pretty damn pointless, and grabs her mother's drugs. Her life just is what it is; ain't no use whining over it anymore. Turing sixteen should have made her feel like a whole other world of possibilities was now open for her, but she couldn't get past the nagging voice in her head that kept telling her that her opportunity to become the next Slayer has come and gone.

It was Saturday, so she didn't have school. Giles did want her to go in and train some more, but not until later.

Faith makes her way into Caroline's room and she smiles up at her daughter, but then frowns as she takes in her appearance. "Oh honey, you look like shit."

"Thanks," Faith says dryly and hands her mother her bag of shit before flopping down on the bed. Her mother doesn't do it right away though; instead she puts it on the side table and looks at her daughter in almost pity or maybe it's understanding.

"Party too hard last night?" Caroline asks as she runs her fingers through Faith's wet hair. If there was one person who knew about partying too hard, it'd be her mother.

"Something like that," Faith says, trying to ignore the bruises she has on her because of Buffy's rough behavior last night. Bitch can apparently throw down. Faith didn't really remember much besides Buffy suddenly comin' out of her shell and sticking up for herself. Well, that and apparently how hot it made her. It kind of disgusts her to think about. She's got way too many damn issues.

Caroline leans over and grabs a comb from off the table and situates herself behind Faith as she starts combing her hair. Faith ain't really into the whole coddling thing, but she's too hung over to argue right now.

"So tell me what happened, did you have a nice birthday? It was sweet of your friends to take you out," Caroline says as she runs the comb through her daughter's dark locks.

"Yeah, fun as fuck, till the bitch from hell showed up," Faith mumbles. She knew she shouldn't have said anything after the comb stopped halfway down her hair.

"The bitch from hell, huh? Tell me about her."

"It ain't nothin', Mum. Just some bitch whose head I'd like to kick in though a damn door," Faith says flatly, but her mother chuckles, finding amusement in that. Faith narrows her eyes, "What?"

"Nothing, Fai," Caroline says, running the comb through her hair again. Faith can feel the water droplets drip down her back, getting lost beneath her tank top. "Does this bitch have a name?" Faith knows her mother's just trying to bond and all that crap and while bonding over Buffy isn't exactly what she wants to do, she does want to talk to her. Just because she never really gets to anymore.

"Buffy," Faith says quietly.

"Buffy, huh?" Caroline asks idly, except Faith can tell she means something more by it. She finds out what it when her mother goes on, "I've heard you talk about her in your sleep."

"What? I don't talk in my sleep, Mum."

Caroline laughs a little, "You've always talked in your sleep. I went in and checked on your last night, you kept mumbling her name." Faith just glares at the wall, not knowing if she's right. She knows Buffy has shown up in her dreams a couple times, but she can never really remember them. She just knows she was there. Caroline continues though, "You must _really_ hate her if you dream about her."

That makes Faith turn around to face her, eyes accusing. "What are you doing? What's with the tone?"

"What tone?"

"That tone you're givin' me now, like you don't believe me or somethin'."

"I didn't say that," Caroline avoids, but she has this little smile that's aggravating Faith, and she can tell. She sighs a little and touches her cheek comfortingly, "Fai, sometimes you're so grown up that I forget that you're still so much a child."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Caroline gives her another smile, a more comforting one, as she lets her hand fall from her cheek. "I think you like this girl," she tells her, knowing that one isn't going to go over well.

"What? Mum, I'm not fuckin' five. I don't pull her pigtails on the playground so we can go play a little game of 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' later," Faith snaps, annoyed. She might not be an adult yet, but she ain't a stupid kid who teases the girl she likes cause she wants to kiss her. What the hell is that? Seriously? Buffy may be pretty, but she ain't all that. Faith's had hotter.

**[trigger warning]**

"Faith," her mother says, her tone disapproving. "You know I don't like when you talk about sex, especially after—"

"_Don't _start on that," Faith warns her eyes flashing. That was one thing she never, ever wanted to remember. In her mind, that fuckin' day doesn't even exist. But Caroline is looking at her sadly. She tries to wrap Faith up in her arms but Faith pushes her away.

"You have to acknowledge it happened, just like I did," Caroline tells her, her voice coming out shaky from the emotion behind it. All the love… and all the protection she failed to give her. Faith sets her jaw and looks away from her.

"I didn't happen."

"Fai, what you're father did…"

"HE'S NOT MY FATHER!" Faith screams, standing up, all the fury and all the emotion making camp in her chest and threatening to claw its way back out of her. She's breathing heavily, her hands clasped into fists at her side. She can feel her nails start to dig in, start to pierce the skin, but it only makes her do it harder.

Her father… her father was _nothing._ A sick fucking bastard who four years ago allowed his daughter to get violated as payment since he didn't have the money. Sat there and fuckin'_ watched_ as her world and her body got torn apart. He is nothing, he is nobody. And she never, ever wanted to remember that day. _It doesn't exist._

"Okay, okay sweetie, hey…" Caroline says, getting up, trying to calm her daughter who looks on the verge of tearing the room and herself apart. "I'm sorry, we won't talk about this now, you're not ready. I'm sorry…"

"That day doesn't _exist,"_ Faith says, her voice coming out strangled and detached. She was breaking, she could feel it. It's like something sick crawled inside her and died, trying to take her with it. She could feel his hands again all over her, could smell his sour breath and hear his grunts of pleasure as he violated a child. It was eating at her all over again and she could feel the pain force its way up her throat.

The pain turns out to be vomit though, and she bends over and hurls onto the carpet, the acids burning her throat and bringing tears to her eyes. She chokes and sputters, seeing some blood mixed in with her bile on the carpet. Would've helped if she had anything in her stomach other than day old booze.

Caroline is by her side in a second but Faith pushes her away. "Don't," her voice comes out strangled and hoarse. "Just leave me alone," she tells her, all the hurt, anger, and disgust flowing through her words. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and leaves her mother's room; leaving her to clean up the mess she started. She slams the door behind her and makes her way into the bathroom, turning on the sink before rinsing her mouth out.

Faith knows why her mother pushes her to talk about it. She's all about 'talking is how you heal', or some shit. She can't afford her to bring her to a therapist, so does this about twice a year, just trying to let Faith work through it. But she never wants to work through it. Working through it means she has to accept it happened to her and she just ain't fucking ready to do that. It's too messed up and yeah, maybe her whole life is pretty damn messed up but that's one thing she can't accept.

She tries not to blame her mother for it. It ain't her fault it happened. After she tried to stop it she got thrown into a wall and was unconscious for longer than it took the bastard to finish, which felt like forever. But maybe somewhere deep inside she does blame her mother, cause it ain't like her getting beat was anything new. Wasn't like how completely fucked off her father was, was anything new. Faith doesn't even remember when they were happy, but her mother tells her that they were once. But it took her years and years of getting beat down, of Faith being beat down, Faith getting _violated_ for her to finally get the balls to run.

And it wasn't even cause of that that they ran. It took the fuckin' place being shot up cause her father pissed off the wrong gang or something. Scared of bullets but ain't scared of getting a beat down every damn day. Whatever. Yeah, she resents her mother for it a little, but she's all Faith's got now. Caroline tried to protect her when she could, but it just wasn't enough. Never is. She loves her cause she tried, but hates her cause she failed.

Sometimes Faith wonders what it'd be like if she had a normal family; if she had a house and a dog and maybe a little brother or sister, just something normal. Family dinners and all that shit that she'd see on TV. But she always stops wondering cause there ain't no point in holding onto something that'll never happen. That ship has sailed and she was on the wrong fuckin' boat.

Faith knows this is why she gets how she does. Angry; needing to be in control no matter what the cost. She's never been big on psychology but she can see what it all did to her. She knows what the rape did to her too, even though she doesn't like to think about it. But being a lesbian; a lesbian slut no less… it's clear as fuckin' day why that happened.

She doesn't have any trust in men and really doesn't ever want to. Xander's different; he's like one of the girls. His cherry still ain't popped so he ain't become a monster yet. Faith's not sure he'd ever really become a monster, but it's not like she's looking to start her first mutual sexual encounter with a man with him. He's a friend, but that's it. She's not lookin' to expand into new territory anyway.

The shit that went down she knows subconsciously made her feel like that's all she's worth. She knows it ain't true, that yeah, she's gotta be worth _something,_ but sometimes an imprint like that is hard to shake. That's why she fucks around. Gets some and gets gone. It's all about give and take and nothing in between. Faith doubts there will ever be anything in between. It's what people wants from her so why the hell not just give it to them?

Maybe a part of her thinks that a girl like her doesn't deserve more. That love and happiness and all that crap are reserved for normal people; people who don't have a bastard father, a drug addict mother, and more baggage than she can ever carry herself. Who would want to deal with that? _She _doesn't even want to deal with that.

Maybe that's why Faith needed the slaying. Why she needed to be Chosen. Just to feel like someone or something out there actually gives a shit and thinks she's worth more than this shell of a person she's become. She knows she's strong; she's strong as all hell for what she's been through and how she deals with it. She's still going to school, still trying to do some right by herself. She's trying to live even though half the time it seems pretty fuckin' pointless. But no matter how strong she is she always feels so damn weak.

But she gets by; she survives. She has to now. Her life might not seem like much, but it's a whole lot better than how it was. Compared to before, this shit's like Disney Land. She's moved up, she's moved on, and she's _trying._ Trying to give her and her mother more than what they had, even if it's only by a little. But they got freedom now, freedom from him and his fucked up life, and that's gotta be the best thing out of it all.

Besides, there's no use torturing herself about the past. She was already tortured enough when she was in it.

**[/trigger warning]**

* * *

A week went by and Faith continued to train with Giles, work on her schoolwork, and stay clear from anything that would heavily piss her off – like Cordelia and Buffy – who were now seemingly separated, which made it harder. When they roamed in packs it was easy to stay clear, but now that Cordelia had decided that Buffy was uncool, the blonde had taken to being by herself most of the time. It's not like Faith is avoiding a confrontation, no, she lives for that shit, but right now she's trying to give herself a break from all the drama. She's falling behind in her classes and that was one thing that was actually important to her, so she stopped with all the bullshit for awhile. She couldn't concentrate when she was pissed off and around both of them she was pissed off a lot.

Avoidance didn't last long, of course. Though through no fault of her own.

Faith strolled into the library one day only to stop short by the sight of Buffy, eyes red and puffy from crying, talking to Giles as her hands were shaking. She looked a wreck; scared and upset beyond words. Faith felt her mouth go dry and she wasn't able to be cruel only because she'd never seen anyone look more devastated in her entire life.

"Ah, Faith," Giles says, noticing her in the doorway. He has a pained expression on his face, almost as much as how nervous he's clearly become. Faith seems rooted to the spot, not knowing what the hell was going on. "Faith… meet Buffy; the Slayer."

Faith's eyes go wide and she feels like she's been punched in the gut. She takes a step back, her eyes connecting with Buffy's. She reaches out to the desk to steady herself, her brain going faster than she can comprehend. She can barely think, let alone make out words right now besides:

"…What?" It's quiet, so quiet she doesn't even think she said it at all.

"Faith, Buffy is going to be… under my care for a little while. Merrick…" but he couldn't finish, the pain washes over his face again in waves and Faith can't even fuckin' breathe. She knows what he's going to say anyway; Merrick was dead. Buffy started crying harder, upset that she couldn't protect him.

Buffy Summers. Buffy two-faced closet-case Summers is the _Slayer?_ It didn't make sense, and she almost laughs at just how absurd it is, but she can't make her mouth move. Buffy couldn't be the Slayer, she's all pink and girly and—Faith's mind flashes to when Buffy pinned her up against the wall. She was strong. Too damn strong. It wasn't the liquor that impaired Faith; it was that Buffy was just so much stronger than her.

She can't breathe. Life just bitch slapped her across the face.

"You will still be under my care, of course," Giles goes on as he takes off his glasses, cleaning them. His hands were shaking and she can detect the slight tremor in his voice. "But I will be training you both… and Faith, it is absolutely vital that we train you and that you help us learn more about the Zan'Hurrak so that Buffy has a fighting chance to survive."

So that Giles has a chance to survive too. They've been picking off her Watchers one by one. And Giles… Giles was…

It infuriates Faith. She has never felt so much hated in her life until that very moment. Buffy fucking Summers is the Slayer, and Buffy just painted a big red target on both of their backs. "You…" Faith says slowly, her eyes dangerous. She laughs a little, she can't help it. "Are you _shitting _me?!"

"Faith…" Giles tries.

"No, G! What the _fuck?_ You told me you didn't want me involved, I don't _want_ to be fucking involved! Let B handle this shit on her own, she's gonna fuckin' get us all killed if she sticks around here!"

"She is the Slayer and you will respect her," Giles says firmly. "And me, for that matter. This is your duty, Faith, as well as it is mine. We are both involved whether we like it or not and you _must_ be prepared for what it about to rain down on all of us."

"Fuck this," Faith responds, still too much in disbelief at all of this. _Buffy?!?_ She turns to walk away, but another voice says her name; calling her back. Buffy. She sounded so broken; so distant.

Faith whips around and stars advancing on her, "No! No you don't just come in here and take_ everything_ away from me! You don't fuckin' come in here and make me and Giles next on some demon clan's hit list! Who the_ fuck _do you think you are?!"

"Get out of my face," Buffy warns her, the effect of recent events making her voice choke from sobbing. But her eyes flash at her, making Faith aware of the danger. That she was not to be fucked with, especially not right now. But Faith doesn't move; she's right up in her face. She's not backing down. No one, not even the fuckin' Slayer is about to fuck up her life. It's Buffy's destiny, not her's. And yeah, Faith really hates the bitch in front of her for that too.

Go figure right? Of all of the people in this school, of course it's gotta be the one she despises the most.

"Girls, please," Giles says, apparently now realizing the two of them have spotty history with each other. Making them work together was going to be a task in itself.

"Make me," Faith spits out at her. Buffy stands up then, the chair she was in clanging against the tile as it falls to the ground. Faith backs up instinctively, knowing she should have done so in the first place. She can smell the power radiating off of Buffy and it makes her furious, but it doesn't make her completely stupid. Buffy looks almost detached from reality, but also like her only anchor to keep her grounded is Faith and the anger she's causing within her. Faith barely notices though; to wrapped up in herself.

"Do you think I want this?!" Buffy screams at her, and now she's the one advancing on Faith. "If I could give this stupid destiny to you I'd do it without a second thought! I don't want to be the Slayer! It's my fault everyone's _dying!"_

"Got that right B. That _is _your fault," Faith snarls at her, but backs up just as much as Buffy's coming towards her. She has fear in her, but it doesn't show in her voice. "And I ain't dying for you."

"I don't want you to! I don't want anyone to!"

"Got a funny fuckin' way of showing it."

That was obviously one step too far as suddenly Buffy's fist collides with Faith, the force lifting her off the ground before she crashes into a bookshelf, books falling down around her. She groans in pain, feeling like she just got hit by a fuckin' truck.

"Buffy! Faith!" Giles yells, furious. "Stop this right now! We do not have time for your childish quarrels. We are all in danger!" He runs over to Faith and holds out his hand to help her up, but Faith slaps it out of the way before picking herself up off the ground, wincing at how badly that hurt.

Her ego just keeps getting beat down by this bitch, let alone her body.

She fucking hates her. Faith's eyes connect with Buffy's and she can feel nothing but rage. She already had everything and she had to go and take the one thing Faith wanted. She had to come in and turn her life upside down and now in a couple weeks she'll probably be six feet under because of this stupid bitch. _This is not what she wanted!_

"Fuck you. Fuck all of you," Faith says, her voice hard as she starts to walk away. Giles calls back to her but she doesn't listen, she just keeps right on walking. Once she's out of the school she takes off running down the street, just needing to get away. She ran for miles and miles, just trying to make her chest stop feeling like it's ripping in half.

Buffy Summers is the Slayer… and Faith wants to destroy her for that.

**TBC…**


	8. Breaking Apart: Part One

**_A/N: This chapter ended up being WAY too long so I split it into two parts (really, I have no idea how I managed to write a 7,000+ word chapter. Bit insane) Anyway, thanks again for everyone reading/reviewing!  
_**

**CHAPTER EIGHT****  
Breaking Apart: Part One**

Storming out dramatically didn't work out exactly the way Faith had planned. Mainly because usually when someone storms out, the whole point would be to not come back. To show the fuckin' world you're pissed and that everyone can just fuck the hell off and die for all you give a shit.

Faith came back though, probably because the dying part was a bit too real now.

She gets responsibly, she gets destiny. She's not completely dense and she's not completely selfish either. But it hurts. Everything fuckin' hurts inside and she's freaked out to realize it's because she's terrified. Not like she'll admit it. No, she'll never say anything like that out loud. But she is. She's got this big red target on her back now that screams, "Take your best shot, big guy!" It ain't something she's exactly had to deal with before… and she's dealt with _a lot._

She's pissed because Buffy's the Slayer but she's even more pissed because the bitch just brought hell to rain down on Giles' and her friend's heads, let alone her own.

She just doesn't know how to handle it. Doesn't know how to handle _her._ Buffy.

There's something about Buffy Summers that bugs the hell out of her. It's like this feeling in the pit of her stomach that's drawing her in at the same time that her mind warns Faith that Buffy's not good for her; screaming at her to stay the hell away. Maybe that's because of the Slayer thing, maybe that's just because of her. She's always felt weird around Buffy, though not enough to really notice it before. But lately it's like it's pokin' its head out and letting her know that something's wrong and she's trying like hell to ignore it but she just can't.

For real though, on her top ten things to do this week, dying ain't one of them. That's why she came back.

When she strides through the Library doors she's greeted by the sight of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles all sitting around the table with books laid out around them. They all look up at her, Xander and Willow looking relieved, Giles still looking angry with her for storming out, and Buffy still looking shaken up.

"No one say _anything," _Faith warns as she comes over and flops down into a seat. She meets every single questioning and surprised glance that's thrown her way with dangerous eyes. She's not talking about why she's back. She just is; end of story.

There's a silence that stretches on for what seems like forever before Buffy speaks. "I'm sorry I hit you," she says softly, her words coming out cracked. Her hands still seem to be shaking.

"What part of 'don't say anything' did you fail to grasp, Twinkie?" Faith shoots back at her, becoming increasingly aware of the pain on the side of her face. If she has a huge bruise in the morning she's throwing down with this bitch, Slayer or not.

Reality has yet to hit Faith about what's really going on. Imminent death, yeah, she gets that. She get's everything that has to do with _herself._ But she's refusing to see what has already happened to other people around her. She doesn't want to think about it, she doesn't want to feel. Faith doesn't want to feel for _her._ Maybe it's selfish, but she is far past the point of caring. She's fuckin' terrified, okay? Yeah, she'll admit it to herself. Faith's terrified for herself and she's terrified for her friends. She just can't think about what someone else is going through cause it's just going to make the reality so much worse.

Denial. Faith's almost as good at it as Buffy is. Faith denied acknowledging the fact that Buffy was the Slayer even though she feels like it was in front of her the whole time. If she can't handle it then she just won't deal with it, plain and simple. What she can handle? Anger. Oh, anger she can handle just _fine…_

Buffy shoots her an indignant look at the bitchy attitude and Giles clears his throat. "Enough, both of you, please," he says before sliding a book Faith's way. "We need to find out what we can about the Zan'Hurrak as quickly as possible. Faith, I've filled in Xander and Willow already, they arrived not long after you… left," he says the last word with distaste. She knows he's still pissed, but like she's the poster girl for controlling her emotions. She really should get a gold fuckin' star and a scratch n' sniff sticker for coming back this soon, seriously; pat on the back for her, damnit, since no one else seems really inclined.

"If the Council can't find this shit, how are we gonna?" Faith asks. Not to be a damper on their parade or anything, but just cause it's a valid question.

"Faith," Giles says her name like he's sick of explaining this to her, "Like I told you once before, these are not regular library books. What you have in front of you is a book that is hundreds of years old. While yes, there are translations of that book across the world, it is still one of very, very few." Faith cocks an eyebrow at the word 'translation' and Giles assures her, "You have the English one. But some of these books are some of the last in existence and are volumes that the Council does not possess. Some of these are even from my own collection. We may find what we are looking for here and we may not, but we will not find anything if we don't _try."_

"Yeah, got it," Faith mumbles. She hates when he gets all annoyed at her. She had a damn valid reason for storming out, shit. She got fuckin' thrown into a wall, told she was basically gonna die, and that the girl she couldn't stand had everything she wanted and a bag of peanuts. Why can't she just get credit that she came back?

She knows why, but she won't think about it. She can't think about it. Thinking about it makes it real. That's another reason why she keeps avoiding everyone's look of disapproval at her snapping at Buffy.

The Library falls silent after that and nothing can be heard but the turning of pages. After about ten minutes Willow slips her a note that asks, _'After this we can go back to yours and talk, right?_' Faith just nods to her. She knows both of them probably haven't been able to say word one about Buffy suddenly being the super hero since they got there. Giles probably didn't give them much time to react, though not like there was much time at all to do anything anymore, it seemed.

The air in the room is heavy. Shock mixed with determination and desperation. Everyone's trying to concentrate but not being able to really think. Faith's thoughts are going so fast through her head that she barely has time to process them. She's trying to push everything else out and just tries to focus on her anger. She's pretty sure her anger is the only reason she's survived as long as she had, so it's a good enough plan to fall back on.

"Ah ha!" Xander bursts out after another long stretch of silence. Everyone looks at him and then he scrunches up his face, confused. "No wait, no ah ha. Nevermind."

Faith sighs and slumps lower in her chair, trying to look at the words on the page in front of her but they seem to just be blurring together. Her eyes flicker up to land on Buffy, who's sitting across from her looking like she can't concentrate on the words in front of her either. She's leaning on one of her hands, staring down at the book in front of her as she slides her slightly trembling fingers slowly through her blonde hair. Faith doesn't realize she's staring until Buffy looks up at her, which makes Faith glare at her before dropping her gaze back to the page in front of her.

_Bitch._

That weird feeling that she gets when she's around Buffy just intensifies and she really wishes she knew what the hell it was. Maybe it really was a potential Slayer thing; like all the Slayers and Slayers-To-Be get butterflies in their stomach when another one of their kind is around. Maybe she'll ask Giles about it later when he's not actively being disappointed with her. It's weird though, she's never gotten anything like that with anyone else. Comes sort of between the realm of nerves and the tingles you get from sexual anticipation. It feels good, but that's the problem. She doesn't want to get the warm fuzzies when she's around Buffy. She _hates_ her. She's trying really fuckin' hard to not let anything change that.

Faith gets the feeling someone's watching her so she looks up and meets Buffy's eyes again. She doesn't look down though; she doesn't seem embarrassed about being caught. Instead she mouths a silent, "I'm sorry," fucking _again_. Seriously though, what is this girl's issue? Why the hell does she have to go and apologize every time something goes south between them? It ain't like she's gonna win any kind of award for it and it ain't like she's looking for a new friend in Faith. Right? Cause just… no. And it's making her feel weird. Almost guilty. She doesn't like that feeling… at all. Reality isn't allowed to bleed through right now.

Girls like them ain't meant to get along. Period. Cut from different clothes or whatever. She doesn't get why Buffy has to turn around and be so freaking _nice_. It's frustrating, especially right now. Especially after everything. Can't they just stick to being rude to each other? She knows Buffy doesn't like her, that much is clear. So why the hell is she trying? Does she get charity work credit for this shit? Fuck that. She just needs to leave her alone cause Faith isn't ready to feel yet. She isn't ready to see that Buffy's a… person.

A person that's in so much pain right now that she can barely contain it inside of her.

But Faith refuses to see that. She turns a blind eye and focuses back on the book in front of her. All there is inside of her is anger, that's what Faith tries to focus on. _Anger._ She's not a person; she's a Slayer. She should be equipped to deal with this type of thing. Half demon, right? But Buffy looks all mortal right now, in more ways than one. That's the problem.

But even though she's holding onto the anger, Faith ain't about to start another fight, at least not when Giles is still all pissy. So instead she just shrugs a little and puts up her hands to tell her it's cool, for now. When she sees the damage to her face it might not be, but they'll cross that bridge when they come to it. Right now they gotta stick to the books and find out more about who the hell wants to chop them up into little pieces and make a Slayer pie.

"Wait!" Willow exclaims, making almost all of them jump out of their skin as her voice pierces the silence of the room.

"What is it, Willow?" Giles asks.

"Here, I-I think I found something," Willow says, looking really pleased with herself through her nervousness. "It's a diary entry written by a Watcher from the 16th century. Look," she says, sliding the book, or apparently diary, over to Giles who picks it up and adjusts his glasses on his nose before reading outloud.

"_I do not believe I will live though the night, hence I will write this hurriedly and hold onto the hope that this will never be discovered by those whom wish me harm. None whom acquired knowledge of them have lived to breathe a word of their existence, but I must try. I do not know what name they call themselves; all I know is this: they feel themselves connected to the Slayer line, perhaps even behind controlling it. They carry out the orders to pave the way for the new world, for the destiny of two—" _Giles stops, apparently where the passage ends.

"Guessing our boy got interrupted," Faith says, just to fill the silence of the room.

"That is the last entry," Giles affirms. He takes off his glasses and begins cleaning them thoroughly. Faith knows that means he's freaking out a bit. "If… by some chance this man spoke the truth, then this has been going on for centuries now. I'm inclined to believe that they are trying to carry out a prophecy, though it's quite disconcerting that not many have known about their existence and lived to speak about it."

"Wait," Buffy says, sitting up now, most of the tremble gone from her voice now. She's trying to be stronger and Faith tries like hell not to notice. Faith's eyes do flicker up to look at the Slayer though as she speaks, "If… If no one knew about them, then how does the Council know their name?"

"Good point," Xander says, pointing at Buffy and then to Giles with an expectant look.

She does have a good point, but Faith doesn't stress it, she just looks at Giles. Giles puts his glasses back on his nose before answering, "I said not many. The Council has one passage on them that only describes them as manipulators of fate. It says they are classified as neutral, but under the current situation they have been referred to as a threat. Though," Giles says, thoughtful for a moment. "You may be on to something, Buffy. All of the Council has been warned about them, been told their name, and yet there are far less deaths than one would presume if this entry is true."

"S-So what does that mean?" Willow stutters, a little freaked out about being in the know about something that could get them all killed. She's not the only one. Xander still looks a bit green, but every single one of them is trying to deal with this as well as can be expected.

"It may mean the prophecy of the New Age is coming to pass right at this very moment. That the Slayer it entails is in fact the current Slayer."

All eyes turn to Buffy, whose own eyes go wide in fear.

"Me? Why me? I don't want to be Prophecy Girl!"

"Would you rather be Dead Girl?" Faith asks with a snap of annoyance. Buffy seems to think about that, but not very hard. She shakes her head and then slumps further into her chair, looking defeated. Oh my god, the bitch is _pouting._

The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a _pouter._ They're all fuckin' doomed.

Faith narrows her eyes, her line of sight never leaving the blonde. She slouches in her chair before kicking her feet up on the table. That lasts all of about five seconds before Giles pushes them off without even a glance at her. But Faith doesn't even spare a glance Giles' way either; she's still staring at Buffy who doesn't seem to be handling anything as well as Faith would expect from a Slayer.

Don't they get bravery in with that package of kung fu and crazy ass strength?

Looking at her though, that clearly isn't true. Buffy just looks as much like a scared girl as Faith feels herself. They're both trying to be strong though; trying to deal. The façade is faltering though; falling apart in front of each other as their eyes finally meet again. Faith can't bring herself to glare, she can't even sneer. She just looks at her, looks at _all_ of her… and can't deal with it. She looks down again. She doesn't want to recognize the pain behind the older girl's eyes.

Anger_. Anger._ She has to remember that.

"They keep killing off her Watchers though," Xander says. Buffy immediately stiffens, the fear back on her face. Faith doesn't look at her. She can't watch her react to that.

"Yes, which is what troubles me the most; if one is to assume, they have been controlling the way the Slayer line is passed down, it in essence would mean they would be eliminating the Slayer at the correct moment in their timeline. The fact that they have been eliminating your Watchers," he's speaking to Buffy now, "also fits the theory that you are what they have been waiting for. They seem to be guiding you to a place in your life. It may be isolation and it may be something else, I do not know."

"So _we're_ still on the hit list but B here seems to be off the hook?" Faith asks spitefully, shooting a scornful look at Buffy who at least has the decency not to meet her eye. Anger. She's doing anger. She hates that she has to constantly remind herself to do it though.

She also hates that every single time she does it everyone looks at her like she's being the biggest bitch from hell. But they just don't understand. Hell, Faith barely even understands. But she knows she has to. She knows it's easier.

If there was one thing she learned in her life, it was to protect herself above everyone else. In the end, everyone's always lookin' out for numero uno anyway.

Buffy can protect herself any way she wants to and Faith will do the same.

"To be on the safe side I think we should all assume that every one of us are still in danger, Buffy included, even after—," Giles starts, but notices the look on Buffy's face so he falls silent. "Willow," he says, addressing the red head, changing the subject. "Would you assist me with preparing a protection spell of sorts? It is not a guarantee safety net, but it should do the trick for a little while. It's more like a cloaking spell; hiding us from those who wish to do us harm."

"Sure!" Willow exclaims, excited to be doing some real magic for once instead of just studying.

Buffy raises her hand cautiously, "Is that going to affect my slaying? Like… can I beat up on unsuspecting vampires and they won't be able to see me?" She sounds hopefully, but only feebly so. Hell, Faith would be too if she was her. Sounds… a heck of a lot fuckin' safer.

"Unfortunately no, once you make your presence known to any danger, they will be able to tell you are there. That goes for all of us. The spell will only cloak us for as long as we do not engage our opponents directly. Be cautious that the Zan'Hurrak may also already have an effective method against such obstacles as well, so we all must be on guard," Giles tells them as he gathers up his books. "Xander, could you assist Willow and me by going out and gathering some ingredients while we prepare?"

"I'm on it, just tell me where you need me," Xander says, getting up.

"Excellent. Let me write down a list of what we'll need, Willow and I will start preparing in my office." He looks up then at both Buffy and Faith. "Oh, and Buffy? Would you please assist Faith in her training?"

"What?" Buffy asks, surprised.

"_What?"_ Faith asks, annoyed. She needed to get out of here if she wasn't needed for the spell. She just needed to… get away. Probably go get really fuckin' drunk, even though that's probably the shittiest plan in existence. Also not the healthiest way to deal with… well, anything. Everything.

"Yes, she seems to have some trouble with blocking when the attacks come from behind. I know Merrick has taught you exceptionally well these past few weeks, though do not make the mistake – I will be enhancing his training after we get through with this spell. Just remember to pull your punches; I'd rather not see Faith look like a swollen blueberry."

A swollen _blueberry?_ Fuck, fine, go on and shoot her pride down just a bit fuckin' further. That's cool. Like she really needs that right now.

"Nah G, I don't need—" Faith starts, but is interrupted.

"Yes, Faith, you do. Now is not the time for your petty quarrels with each other. In fact, I need you to start practicing self control over your anger issues and this is a good enough exercise to start. That is what weakens you the most. It causes you to overestimate your own abilities and underestimate your opponent's. I hope you will learn to overcome that quickly," Giles tells her in that way that makes her feel like she has no choice. _Damnit._ Fuck, fine. Why not get her ass handed to her by the one person she's trying like hell to get away from? Just peachy.

Buffy gets up though, looking hesitantly at Giles. Giles gives her a small smile of encouragement and comes over to her, telling her something softly in her ear. He puts a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder and the blonde nods slowly, that urge to be strong coming back, all while Faith's eyes are shooting daggers in their direction because of the simple gesture. Buffy looks over at Faith before Giles walks away from her and into his office.

Buffy's trying to be okay with this. With everything. But Faith isn't. She can't.

Willow and Xander follow after Giles and Buffy and Faith are left alone for a minute, just staring at each other. Buffy looks a bit uncomfortable with the situation as well and she coughs a little, maybe just to clear the air. "Well, I guess we should…" Buffy starts, still looking hesitant.

"Whatever," Faith says in a huff as she gets up quickly, the chair scratching on the floor a little. She turns and makes her way into the locked closet, finding the key hidden behind some old books and opens it. She walks in, grabs the blue mats and throws them out onto the floor.

This is gonna suck.

**TBC…**


	9. Breaking Apart: Part Two

**CHAPTER NINE  
Breaking Apart: Part Two**

Buffy tries to help Faith set up the mats but the brunette shoots her a look. "I got it," she says dismissively, not really wanting to put up with being helped by the other girl because it only made her feel like more of an asshole. As she lays out the mats, Buffy folds her arms across her chest.

"You know, this isn't the most ideal situation for me either," she says flatly.

"Whatever."

"You're just a fountain of intelligent words, aren't you?" Buffy mocks, starting to get a little furious with the younger girl's unwarranted bitchiness. Faith finishes laying out the mats and stands up to face her. She needed Buffy to back off and keep her distance for her own piece of sanity.

"Look, Princess. I don't like you, you don't like me. Let's just stick with that instead of you tryin' to get all buddy-buddy with me."

"I'm not trying to get—ugh," Buffy says, frustrated. "I'm just trying to be nice since we have to work together and see each other every day now because of this. Excuse me for trying to make that a little more pleasant. Excuse me for fucking _living_, Faith. I can see how much it bothers you."

Faith cocks an eyebrow at her, following her own advice of just saying angry. "Don't start with this dramatic shit, okay? I know what you're doing. Cordelia dumped you, from what I heard Scott dumped you. You got no friends, no boyfriend. You ain't got anyone and now you think that just cause we got something in common me and mine are gonna be your rebound buddies? Really don't think so." Buffy just stares at her like she couldn't believe Faith just said that too her. Hell, Faith is having a big _okay, idiot, that was WAY over the line_ moment in her head, especially after what Buffy just went through, but she can't stop herself.

Protecting herself. Pushing her away. Pushing everyone away. Anger. Hate. Fuck it. She can't deal with it and she knows she's going about it all wrong and yet the words keep coming.

"You can't just come in here and think you're one of us because you have nowhere else to fit in anymore. You can't just fuckin' waltz in here and screw up everyone's lives and think we're going to be okay with it. You know what? Yeah, I can deal with you being here. But don't you fuckin' dare act like a wounded puppy who's trying to find their way back home when you bring this shit down on us. You're the Slayer, B. Fuckin' congratulations. _Now deal with your shit like a Slayer."_

Faith just took the 'Biggest Bitch' title away from Cordelia. She can feel it and she already regrets every single thing that came out of her mouth when Buffy looks at her like she's not even human. She doesn't feel very human after that. She just took one thing and went way off base, turning it into something uglier just to hurt her; just to push her away. Faith's a lot of things… but she's never been that cruel. She can be a bitch with the rest of them but she doesn't… fuck. She just did.

She feels the pull as she watches Buffy start to fall apart.

Buffy's hands are shaking again and Faith realizes she's trying to control herself not to just beat Faith into that blueberry Giles was talking about. Faith steps back hesitantly as she watches her. Buffy's eyes have misted over and she sets her jaw and Faith watches her swallow hard before a strangled sob is released from her lips. The sound seems to infuriate Buffy and her hands connect with Faith's chest as she shoves her into the ground furiously. Faith gasps in pain; the force making the safety mat that broke her fall relativity useless.

Faith doesn't get up though and for once she doesn't defend herself, though maybe only because she knows she'll lose. She looks up at Buffy who's standing over her, one tear falling down her cheek, the fury igniting behind her green eyes.

When she speaks finally, her voice comes out even, like she's trying to control every single word. It only makes the anger sound more predominant though, and Faith's pretty sure she's not about to pick herself up off this floor anytime soon.

"My Watcher just died, you cold hearted _bitch._ He died! _In front of me!_ Have you EVER seen anyone die, Faith? Get ripped _apart?!"_ Buffy shrieks, the tears falling from her eyes faster. She points at the brunette below her furiously, "You don't know what it's like for me! Everyone around me is dying and it's _my _fault! I close my eyes and try to go to sleep and all I see is death!"

Faith's stomach feels like she swallowed rocks. The reality; the reality she's been trying to avoid. Buffy's pain. She saw it; she could practically feel it the minute she walked in the door. She didn't want to think about what Buffy went through because this would happen: she would want to fix it. She can't see her cry. She doesn't know why but the last time she saw her cry it scared her because she wanted to make it better. And this? All she wants to do is make it better and it terrifies her.

She's not supposed to care. She's not that kind of person. She's not the person who helps out someone when they need it cause no one has ever helped out her, that's for damn sure. So she's the person who gives a big FUCK YOU to the world and lets everyone go about their shit. But Buffy… she can't leave it. It freaks her out and pisses her off and she tries like hell to avoid what is happening right now and yet the funny thing is that she's the one that made it happen, her and her stupid fucking mouth.

Faith tries to get up, but Buffy won't let her. "No," Buffy demands, her voice dangerously calm as she stares down at her. "No, don't you fucking move. You're gonna sit there and listen to every single thing I have to say to you before you even _think_ about moving."

Faith's eyes widen; Buffy's dead serious. She's never seen Buffy this way before. She doesn't move though, she stays where she is. She locks her jaw to keep herself from saying anything that's about to make this worse and make both of them feel like even more shit. It's hard though. She's never let anyone tell her what to do before, but right now? It seems like it might be a good idea to just shut the fuck up for once.

Buffy looks down at her. "You want this so badly, don't you? This _destiny,"_ she spits the word out like it's vile. "But it's not _fun,_ Faith! Outside of all the blood and the gore and the fighting to survive every single night, everything else around you starts to fall _apart!"_ More tears. So many that it's a wonder Buffy can even see. "No one wants anything to do with me anymore because I'm some sort of _freak!_ My mother's starting to think I'm some sort of delinquent because I come home with bruises and wounds because I'm out there fighting for my life, fighting for _your_ life and everyone else's every single night instead of being normal! I don't get a social life; I don't get a life at all! All I am is this and I can't make it stop! My entire world just fucking _broke apart_ and I'm trying here, really trying to be the destiny girl and you're… you're not helping any, Faith! _You don't know what I've been through, okay?!_ So just shut up and get off of my back!"

Faith doesn't have to see them to know that Giles, Xander, and Willow are watching the scene through the office window. Buffy's loud enough to make that obvious. But Faith doesn't care about them right now. She feels completely fucking horrible and it's making her sick.

Buffy's legs seem to give out from under her as she breaks down sobbing, putting her head in her hands and curling herself into a ball. Buffy's breaking in front of her and it makes Faith feel like she's breaking too. She has never witnessed anyone going through that much pain before. Ever. In her whole life. She's had her shit but she keeps it all inside. Her mother has freak outs but it's more rage than pain. But this… Buffy was shaking as she sobbed and for the first time since she heard about it… Faith hopes she never becomes the Slayer.

"B…" she tries, just trying to say something, anything. But Buffy doesn't respond to her and the overwhelming feeling inside of Faith to just reach out and hold the crying girl was becoming more predominant. But she was scared. Reaching out and relating… she doesn't want to do that. "Buffy," she tries again, moving closer to her, but Buffy pushes her away from her. Not hard though, she can't seem to put much effort behind it.

"Just go away," she sobs.

"Buffy… shit, come on. Stop cryin'," Faith says, her voice gentler as she tries to come closer to her again.

"No! Just… Faith, just leave me alone!" Buffy cries as she pushes her away again, but can barely see through her tears. She tries to make Faith get away from her, keeps trying to push, keeps telling her to leave her alone until she's screaming it. But Faith's arms wrap around her and the fight leaves the blonde and she collapses against her, burying her face in the crook of Faith's neck.

"I'm sorry; I'm a bitch, okay? I'm sorry, Buffy," Faith tells her as she holds her closer to her, just trying to get her to calm down. It was eating her up inside; the guilt. She shouldn't have done that. She should have found a better way to deal with her own problems. She knows she's not the poster girl for dealing with problems in the healthy way, but she shouldn't have been that fuckin' stupid.

Now look what she did.

It takes about ten minutes to calm Buffy down. Faith strokes her hair and holds onto her because she knows she has to; that she has to fix what she just broke. She watches Xander slip out quietly from Giles' office, the list of things he was sent to get in hand. He glances at them quickly, but leaves without another look to give them privacy.

Buffy's sobs have faded now; all that's left are her sniffles every now and then. Her hands hold onto Faith's shirt in a death grip and she won't open her eyes. "Buffy?" Faith asks softly. "B? You… you okay?" Buffy doesn't say anything, but she does lift her head up to look at Faith. Faith feels a tightening in her chest as she sees Buffy's tear stained face and she wipes away the next one that falls down her cheek. Buffy takes a breath, maybe a sigh, and leans her forehead gently against Faith's, closing her eyes.

"You were supposed to be the only one who could ever understand…" Buffy whispers, the pain still evident in her voice. It terrifies Faith that she wants nothing more than to make that pain go away. But she doesn't think about it, she can't right now. She'll freak out later, alone in her room, sure. But right now? Right now she's got more important shit to deal with.

"I don't," Faith tells her softly, almost regrettably. She sighs and closes her eyes too, just feeling Buffy's skin against hers. "I'm sorry, B. I ain't a Slayer. I'm… just me. I got shit I have to deal with every day but it ain't like you."

Fuck. Buffy's lips are way too close to hers, making her think inappropriate thoughts and have stupid urges. The girl's_ crying _for shit's sake.

Faith pulls away from Buffy, just needing the distance before she does anything stupid. She doesn't know where that urge came from because this isn't the sexiest of situations. Buffy looks up at her, so many emotions on her face that Faith can't read.

"You hate me," Buffy states, softly. There's no emotion in her words even though her face is showing too much of it.

"I have to hate you," Faith corrects quietly.

"Why?"

"It's easier."

"Then what?" Buffy asks, her voice cracking. Her eyes search Faith's like she's trying to find answers to her own questions that she's never asked. Faith looks away from her, not wanting to see what's behind her eyes; what's reflected in her own.

"I dunno," Faith tells her, honestly. "Easier than anything else." She looks up at her when she feels Buffy's grip slacken on her tank top and her fingers start to slightly caress Faith's sides. Buffy doesn't seem like she's realizing that she's even doing it. But Faith moves away from her, making her stop. "It's easier for you too," she tells her, keeping her distance now. "You know it."

Buffy looks up at her, studying her; "You're terrified," she tells her.

"So are you," Faith counters defensively, even though she's sure neither of them knows if they're talking about impending doom or something else. They just stare at each other for a long time, the tension so thick in the air that it's almost suffocating them both.

"Yeah," Buffy admits softly. "I am." She takes a deep breath, contemplating something. She picks at her shirt absentmindedly as she goes on, "So maybe you're right. We just… we shouldn't get along."

Faith nods a little as Buffy looks up at her again.

Buffy takes another breath, calming herself down. Making herself deal with the situation and move on. "But we should be training," she says, trying to get back down to business. Faith's grateful for it.

And just like Buffy, she pushes down everything she was feeling and tries to act normal. They both need to right now.

Faith cracks a small smirk. "Now you're talkin'. Let's get rough." Yeah, that came out sounding a lot more suggestive than she meant it to and she can tell by the slight blush of Buffy's cheeks. Shit, that's not what she meant. She tries to move on from that quickly though, not wanting Buffy to think she's hitting on her because she's so _not._ As both girls pick themselves off the floor, Faith asks, "So what? You want to just come at me then?"

Jeez, that sounded like an innuendo too. Maybe she should just stop talking all together.

"Yeah, turn around," Buffy tells her, thankfully seeming to miss the innuendo. She brushes off her pants and wipes her eyes and Faith can see the strength behind them. It's almost beautiful in a tragic sort of way. Kinda like Faith's life as a whole.

Faith turns around, looking at the doors of the library as she tries not to think about what just happened or what it was. What it even meant. It just didn't make sense, any of it. She shouldn't feel this connected to a person she barely knows. But that's why she needs to run. She doesn't need connections, especially connections she can't explain. And most definitely not a connection that makes her… care. Caring is dangerous. Caring gets you hurt.

Faith's lost in her thoughts and her pause in being aware of the situation costs her when Buffy comes at her and she only realizes at the last second. Before she knows it she's sprawled out flat on her ass. Fuck. She needs to pay attention.

She rubs her shoulder where the hit connected. "Damnit, B. Giles said pull your punches!" Christ that hurt.

"I did!" Buffy insists. "Sorry, I'll pull them more. I'm still trying to get used to this whole super strength thing." She extends her hand to help Faith up, something that normally Faith would slap away. Though right now, after everything, she knows she has no right to be a bitch. She takes it reluctantly and lets the blonde help her to her feet.

"Alright, go again," Faith says, turning around and planting her feet. She can hear Buffy behind her, trying to pay attention to where she is this time. But when Buffy comes at her, even though Faith accurately judges the distance, she still blocks too late and ends up on her ass again. She growls in annoyance and Buffy tries to stifle a giggle.

At least _she's _feeling better. Christ. Faith rubs her back, wincing in pain.

"Sorry," Buffy says again, helping her back up. "Can I… can I show you something?" she asks, not knowing how receptive Faith is going to be to being taught by her. But right now if it keeps her from landing on her ass she's all for it.

"Go for it, Blondie."

Buffy looks disgruntled at Faith's array of nicknames but comes over to her. "Turn around," she tells her. Faith does what she says and then feels Buffy get behind her; almost pressing against her she was so close. "You're right handed, right?" she asks softly and Faith nods, most of the attention on how close Buffy is to her right now rather than their lesson. _Jesus, Lehane. Get a grip._ If she got laid recently this probably wouldn't be much of an issue. Well, she's got a new thing on her to do list, anyway.

_Not_ with Buffy. Let's make that perfectly clear.

"Okay, so when you turn to block me, lead with your left," Buffy instructs as she takes Faith's left arm in her hand and guides her, slowly showing her how to turn. "Keep your arm bent like this, that way when you block my punch most of the force will go here," her fingertips trail over an area on Faith's forearm, showing her. Faith feels the tingles getting worse. God damnit, the closeness isn't helping any. She's really gotta talk to Giles about this. "It's less likely to get broken on impact there." Yeah, cause that's comforting.

Faith is facing her now and Buffy has stepped back, demonstrating how she's going to come at her and how Faith's arm will connect to block it. "That way, if you do it like this, you can follow through with your right and get a clean shot," Buffy tells her, smiling a little as she takes Faith's hand in hers, guiding her along the pathway. Damn, they were way too… in each other's space right now. "You get it?"

"Yeah, think so," Faith says, waiting for Buffy to step the hell back from her space, but Buffy doesn't move right away, nor does she let go of her hand or the grip on her arm. She looks kinda spaced for a second before coming back to earth and stepping away, looking a little shy. Faith narrows her eyes, confused. Okay, awkward.

They're supposed to be hating each other. This isn't helping.

"Gimme your best, Twinkie," Faith says with a smirk before stepping back and turning around. She needs to get this back on track before she does something really stupid.

It takes about four tries before she manages to actually follow through correctly. Her fist connects with Buffy's jaw making her stumble back a step. "Oh shit, I did it!" Faith says, excited. Then she notices Buffy rubbing her face. "Oops?"

"It's fine, barely felt it," Buffy tells her, rolling her neck to crack it. She smiles at her though and Faith can't help but smile back, only a little.

It's one short moment of a truce between them, but Faith doesn't plan to think too extensively about the matter. She still needs to hate her, still needs Buffy to hate her back, but it doesn't look like hate is on the menu anymore. Faith will knock it down to 'strongly dislike' but the fact of the matter is… no matter how much she tries to convince herself of it, Buffy isn't exactly the enemy anymore.

**TBC…**


	10. A Little Bit of Jealousy

**CHAPTER TEN  
****A Little Bit of Jealousy**

"We should go to Church this Sunday."

Faith blinks heavily, trying to process what she just heard. She stops folding laundry and looks at her mother in disbelief. "Uh, _why?"_

Caroline digs a cigarette out of her pack, not meeting her daughter's questioning gaze. "Well I just think it's time for a little faith in our lives, maybe it will help us through the bad times," she tells her calmly before pulling one out and putting it between her lips. Faith is still staring at her like she has four heads.

"Mum, I don't need faith. I _am_ Faith."

Caroline looks over at her disapprovingly, not amused by her joke. "I'm serious Fai, we _are_ Catholic, or did you forget?" She flicks the lighter, making it flame before lighting her cigarette. Faith just raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're a Catholic drug addict and I'm a Catholic lesbian slut. Pretty sure the big guy upstairs would smite us the second we stepped foot in the joint."

"Faith!" Caroline snaps, annoyed now. "God doesn't give up on us because of our sins. And I thought I told you not to speak to me about your sex life. I wasn't joking and I really wish you would be more respectful with your body." _Oh please._ Faith bites her tongue before she snaps back about how her mother should be respectful with hers by not snorting up drugs every damn day.

"Whatever," Faith says, rolling her eyes before going back to work folding a shirt. "I don't see why the fuck you'd wanna go all of a sudden. Ain't like we've always been religious." Then she stops, realization dawning on her. She looks up at her mother. "Aw, Mum… have you been watching the religious channel again?"

"That's not the point. I think we should—"

"I told you ya gotta quit watching that."

"—try to atone for our wrong doings. I think sitting in for a mass and maybe doing a confessional will be good for both of us," Caroline finishes.

"I ain't confessing nothin' to nobody," Faith says flatly as she puts down the folded shirt and picks up a pair of jeans."You can go though. If you think it's gonna do you good… more power to ya."

"I'd like us to go as a family…" Caroline tries, but it rubs Faith the wrong way and she slams the jeans back down onto the bed.

"Since when have we ever been a 'family', Mum? I mean _really._ Between the cops knocking on our door every other week and Dad's gang shooting up the apartment when he jacked their stash, no wonder we couldn't find time for family fun, right?"

"Faith Hope Lehane," Caroline starts, her eyes flashing from her daughter's tone and pulling out the full name card like it's going to scare her. It doesn't scare her, but it does get Faith's attention. "I know I might not be the best mother and I know I haven't protected you as well as I should, but you _damn_ well better respect me. I try my best and I'm sorry that isn't enough for you, but I am your mother and we _are_ a family and you _will _go to church with me on Sunday. Is that clear?"

"Crystal, _mother_," Faith shoots back as she gives her a glare. Fuckin' whatever. If she wants to try to play happy family just… _whatever._ She can play that game if it makes her sleep better at night. Fuck it.

She doesn't know if she loves it or hates it when her mother gets like this. It seems she goes between being the good mother, to the fuck up, to the try-to-be-your-friend type. Like she doesn't know where to fit in or what will make Faith love her. Faith just tends to go with it though, knowing more often than not it's the drugs the effect her mood swings. She's gotten used to it.

Caroline looks at Faith and her face softens a bit. "Honey… I know…" she starts, then sighs, "I know things are bad. I know _I'm _bad. But I'm starting to get better, you know that. And I know you've been going through some stuff, stuff you don't think you can tell me and that's fine, okay? It is." Her gaze lands on the angry bruise that's starting to form on Faith's face, but she doesn't comment on it. She knows Faith won't tell her. "But I just think this could be good for us," she goes on. "We can learn and grow and… all that shit."

Faith smirks a little as her mother's speech falters a bit. But she relents, shrugging a bit. "Fine. Whatever. But just so you know, if we walk in there and get struck by lightning, the first thing my dead ass is gonna tell ya is 'I told you so.'"

Caroline smiles a little, "Fair enough."

There's a knock on the door then, making Faith look up. "My door," she says, noticing the sound was from next door. She grabs some of her clean laundry and gives her mother a small smile, "I'm gonna go see who that is. You'll be alright?"

"I can survive on my own, Faith. I'm a big girl," Caroline reminds her with a soft smile. They hear another knock on the door and Caroline gets a twinkle in her eye. "You might want to get that, it could be _Buffy."_

Faith groans, deciding yeah, now is time to leave. "Don't start on that, Mum. Seriously. Me and her? Not ever gonna happen," she tells her as she starts backing out of the room with her arms full of clean clothes.

Great, she finally went all of a couple hours not thinking about the girl and then her mother has to go and bring her up. Seriously, she went out of her fuckin' way to distract herself so she didn't have to think about her and what happened earlier. But of course, because life likes to have a laugh at her expense, now her mother is convinced the girl that's the cause of her bruises is the girl she wants to send flowers and candy too. _Right._

"You still talk about her in your sleep. Every night," Caroline tells her with this grin that Faith just despises. Like she's teasing her cause she's a school girl with a crush. She does _not _have a crush on _Buffy!_ Ugh. Fuck! Maybe she talks about her in her sleep cause she's always dreaming about the stupid Slayers. I mean, fuckin' obviously.

Not like she can tell her mother that though.

"Whatever. Bye, Mum," Faith says with a dismissive tone as she walks into her room. As she closes the door she hears her mother ask:

"When you start dating you'll let me meet her, right?"

Faith groans again and shuts the door. Good fucking grief. Her mother was never gonna let it go. Caroline knows she's a lesbian but Faith has never once mentioned another girl to her before. Well, okay, she knows about Willow, but she met Willow and could tell that there was no sparks there, just friendliness. While she gets that her mother is trying to be all… excited over the prospect of Faith having a crush or even a real girlfriend – which she's never had – the fact remains that she's blowing smoke up the wrong damn chimney.

Dating isn't what Faith does. She screws. A lot. Though not really much as of late. After Harmony and that whole disaster she's kinda steered clear. Well, except for that one time last week she let the bartender go down on her in the storage room at The Bronze. But come on… needs had to be met. It's only so long she can go until she starts feeling antsy.

The knocking on her door continues.

"I'm coming, hold your shit together! Damn!" Faith yells as she puts the clothes down on her bed before making her way over to the door. When she opens it, she's not surprised to find Willow and Xander on the other side. She smiles, trying to make up for her grumpy response. "Sorry… Mum was drivin' me nuts."

"That's what parents are for, otherwise I'd think we both drew the short straw," Xander says with a smirk before Faith steps aside letting them both inside. When she closes the door, Willow starts talking a million miles an hour.

"I can't believe Buffy's the Slayer! I mean THE Slayer! Here! H-Here with us, in Sunnydale! It's so weird! She's not like a kick ass bad girl like you either, she's… she's a cheerleader! A slaying cheerleader!" Willow gets out all in a rush, almost like she was teetering on bursting a second before she opened the door and greeted them.

Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. She was far too enthusiastic for her liking.

Willow seems to get that and quickly diverts to, "I-I mean, damnit, damn Buffy and her… slayerness. It's wrong and it's bad and she's… a-a bitch." Well, on a scale of one to ten of how convincing that sounded, Faith would give it a two point five. Then Willow seems to notice her face and she winces, "Okay… m-maybe I shouldn't have been so 'Ra! Ra!' over the girl who gave you… well, multi-colored bruises."

Faith sighs and sits on the bed heavily. No, probably not.

"It's fine Red, you don't have to be jumpin' on my bandwagon of hate if you don't want to. I dunno. I'm just kinda pissed about it. I mean Buffy's so fuckin'… _girly,_ y'know? Packs a mean punch now but she's still such a… girl." Yeah, her ego is still bruised as well as her face on that one.

"Isn't that one of the main qualities a Slayer is supposed to have?" Xander asks pointedly. Faith rolls her eyes and lays down on her bed, looking up the ceiling.

"Whatever. Yeah, though that wasn't my point," Faith says, though more to the ceiling to them. "I just don't like her." She knows how stupid and jealous that sounded before it even left her mouth, but she has to convince herself of it. Like she told Buffy; it's just easier.

Easier than what though… she hasn't really thought about. She doesn't want to think about it.

"I'm sorry, Faith," Willow says, putting her hand on her leg and rubbing it, trying to comfort her. "We um… we saw…"

"I know," Faith interrupts, still not looking at either of them. "Buffy was screamin' pretty fuckin' loud. Figured half the world heard her."

"You kind of deserved it," Xander tells her honestly.

"Thanks, man," Faith says dryly.

"Sorry, but you did."

Yeah. She knows she did. That's why it sucks so fuckin' badly.

"Do you wanna… talk about it?" Willow asks, entering that territory cautiously since Faith doesn't ever talk about emotional shit much and what went down was definitely emotional.

"No. You know me… dealin'. Five by five, whatever. Eventually. I dunno," Faith says, still keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling, but now watching the fan spin slowly around. She feels like such an asshole right now.

She sits up suddenly, trying to put on that tone of indifference she likes so well before she starts spilling her guts. "It's cool though. We'll help her kick the bad guy's ass. No big."

"I'm still wigged that there's a bad guy that wants us all dead," Xander says.

"Yeah, about that… why the fuck did G-Man get you guys involved?" Faith asks. "This ain't your battle."

Willow looks sheepish. "Um… it was my fault. We came in and we heard him talking to Buffy and we… w-well _I _kind of… offered to help. He tried to pretend he didn't know what I was talking about but… we're your backup, Faith. We go where you go."

Faith smiles a little. "That's sweet and all – seriously you guys are like the best fuckin' friends a chick could ask for… but you shouldn't have wanted in this mess." She doesn't want to be the one responsible if something goes wrong.

"Too bad, you're stuck with us," Xander says with a grin as he sits down next to Faith and slaps her thigh lightly. "Besides, our lives would just be dull if we didn't have all the impending doom."

Faith snorts a little as she laughs, "Yeah, cause that's what dreams are made of right? Demons and doom."

"In Sunnydale? Yeah," Xander responds with a lopsided grin. Faith grins back, and then sees Willow checking her watch out of the corner of her eye.

"You got somewhere to be?" Faith asks her and Willow noticeably jumps a mile. Well, shit. Suspicious behavior for one hundred, anyone? Faith cocks an eyebrow at her.

"W-What? No! No, where would I need to be? I-I don't have a life," Willow stammers, nervous. Faith looks over at Xander and he shrugs. They both look at Willow questioningly.

"Willow, I love you to death… but you are a crappy liar, my friend," Xander tells her with a pat on the knee.

"I'm not! I-I'm… I'm…" Willow stammers some more. But both Faith and Xander are looking at her like they know better and suddenly she sighs in defeat, "Okay I give! I'm… I'm supposed to meet… Buffy… later…" She looks really guilty at Faith, whose eyebrows get lost in her hairline. Xander coughs uncomfortably.

"Is Buffy your new study buddy now?" Faith asks, folding her arms across her chest. She tries to keep her voice even, like she doesn't care, but it doesn't go over so well. The bitchiness is seeping back in and she doesn't really know why.

"N-No… it's not… she just… I mean I just thought…" she sighs again, looking like she's feeling horrible about herself. She looks down at her hands and mumbles, "You hate me now, don't you?"

Fuck. Faith runs her hand through her hair and sighs. "No, I don't… I don't fuckin' hate you, Red. Don't think it's physically possible. But I just…" Faith rolls her eyes, more at herself than anyone. She doesn't want to say it out loud. Saying it out loud made it even more real and even more pathetic. "Nevermind."

Willow looks at her sympathetically. "Faith… that doesn't mean I'm not your friend! I-I mean, you know that, right? But Buffy's been all… I mean, she doesn't have any friends now a-and she's upset about… everything. I think that… that maybe since she's around now maybe we could—"

"It's cool, Willow. Don't worry about it. You go with B and have your girly thing. Whatever you're doin'."

"You're still my best friend," Willow assures her.

"Hey!" Xander exclaims. Willow smiles and looks at him.

"You too, you goof."

"Good, because I haven't been in the market for a new best friend since I was five and the competition was pretty stiff then – I don't even want to think about what it would be like now," Xander says with a sly grin.

"What happened when you were five?" Faith asks, an eyebrow rising.

"I stole Willow's Barbie. We didn't talk for two whole days," Xander tells her with a smirk. "Hardest time of my life."

Willow giggles, then looks down at her watch again. Faith rolls her eyes and gives her a little push.

"Go," she tells her, making sure her voice sounded like she was okay with it and not like the jealous bitch she was really feeling like, which was hard. Faith's never been one to try to hide her emotions, mainly cause she sucks at it. Like, say, right now. Damnit.

Willow just looks at her for a moment before pulling Faith into a hug. Faith's eyes go wide, feeling like she's never gonna get used to the whole physical touching thing. But she slowly reciprocates. When Willow pulls away she assures her, "You're still my favorite Slayer-person."

"I'm a potential Slayer-person," Faith corrects with a smirk.

"Same thing," Willow says with a smile before she gets up, hugging Xander goodbye. She gives a little cheerful wave and a "Bye!" before she leaves, which then lets Faith finally relax her face into a scowl. Xander chuckles getting up to stand in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall as he looks at her.

"Jealous?"

_Thanks Xander, because THAT needed to be said out loud. Jeez._

"She's stealing my fuckin' friends now," Faith grumbles. Yeah, she knows how stupid she sounds. If her, Xander, and Willow weren't so close she'd just brush it off; be defensive about it. She's like that with everyone else, anyway. Those two seemed to have a knack at breaking down her walls though, and she's realizing that she keeps opening up without meaning too all the time. It's kind of annoying, but she can't exactly back track or train herself to stop it. She doesn't have much in the way of self control.

"Relax, possessive-girl," Xander jokes, but Faith flashes him a look that shows him it wasn't funny. He's not put off though. "We're still your friends, and Buffy's still a two-faced popular girl that fell from grace, but she's kind of penetrated our little group now cause of all the evil bad stuff going on. Besides, you should know better than anyone how much she's… well, you know she's just hurting a lot."

Faith raises an eyebrow at the word 'penetrating', a little smirk on her lips. She tries to steer the conversation toward something she can deal with: this. She can deal with sexual innuendoes much better than having a talk about Buffy's feelings. Or her own, for that matter. Xander looks embarrassed once he realizes what she's smirking about. Sometimes it's just way too damn easy.

"Not what I meant."

"You sure you don't want to go and _penetrate_ her, Xand?" Faith asks with a dirty smirk. Xander turns all kinds of shades of red.

"No! I don't! There were no thoughts of penetration running through this mind, let me assure you."

"There wasn't, but I'm guessing there is now," Faith presses. Bingo! Cue more inappropriate blushing. Faith laughs a little. Okay, she's feeling a bit better. This was more natural.

"You do this on purpose," Xander mumbles accusingly as he comes back over to flop down on the bed.

Faith chuckles, "Damn right I do." Xander flips her off and Faith laughs some more, leaning back and putting her hands in back of her head, relaxing a bit. "You should try it sometime, it's hella fun to screw with people."

Xander looks up then, an eyebrow raised a bit almost as if accepting her challenge. He says calmly, "Like you screwed with Buffy at The Bronze?"

Faith narrows her eyes. She didn't want to talk about Buffy and her. "I was drunk; shit gets said."

"You looked like you wanted to eat her," Xander points out. Then he realizes the implication of his words in their literal meaning and he blushes a bit, but he doesn't retract his statement.

Faith smirks, not rising to the bait. "Yeah, and have her kicking and screamin' the whole way down."

"You know that's not what I meant. You think Buffy's _sexy_," he taunts her with a smirk of his own.

"Oh lay off, I was just messin' with her head."

"Uh huh."

"I was!"

"You're not jealous because Buffy's stealing your friends, you're jealous because Willow gets to spend time with your _lover,"_ he makes the word sound as taunting as possible and Faith makes an annoyed face before grabbing a pillow and hitting him with it. She didn't like how that one sentence made her feel; like her insides were doing back flips. "Ow!" Xander exclaims.

"Oh don't be a baby; it's just a fuckin' pillow."

"Faith, you just _bitch slapped_ me with the pillow," Xander complains, rubbing the offended area with a pout. Faith just flashes him a triumphant grin.

"Be thankful you didn't get worse. I mean, come on dude, _Buffy?"_ Why does she sound like she's trying to convince herself more than him? Christ. Maybe Buffy's fist rattled her brain more than she thought it did.

Xander shrugs, "You had sex with Harmony. I'd say after that all bets are off."

"Harmony was all… fuck, I dunno. Some kind of fluke. I was deranged or somethin'. I dunno. But B? Hell and _no._ She might be hot and all but my hormones don't control my life," Faith defends, arms crossing in front of her chest defiantly. Xander just looks at her skeptically and Faith sighs heavily. "Fine, hormones don't _always_ control my fuckin' life. Happy?"

"A little. You just admitted she was hot," Xander says, a look of triumph on _his _face now.

"I got eyes, don't I? Shit. I ain't fuckin' stupid, but I ain't desperate either. Besides, I ain't the one who wants to _penetrate_ her." Yeah, she's a bit defensive now.

Xander blushes again. "I _don't_ want to penetrate her!" he defends.

"You've wacked off to the thought though," Faith says in that confident way she does that makes Xander's eyes go wide and then makes her smirk. "See? I knew it." She just needs to turn everything around on him; it's easier to deal with.

"It was _once!"_ he defends quickly, then realizes what he just admitted too and says quickly, "Oh god, don't tell Willow I said that. Ever! In fact, this conversation never happened." He covers his face with his hands and groans.

Faith laughs. "Relax, I ain't telling Red nothin'. What we talk about stays between you and me, you know that. Besides, it ain't nothing to be embarrassed about. We all do a little self-lovin' every now and then, even to weird shit like Buffy fuckin' Summers."

"You've masturbated thinking about Buffy?" Xander asks, looking up at her, his eyes going wide. So do Faith's.

"That's not what I meant," Faith says quickly. "I meant you. You and your fuckin' weirdness of doing it." That didn't come out near as convincing as she wanted it too. Oh shit.

"You're a sucky liar," Xander tells her, but now he's smirking. He knows. God fucking damnit. It's not like she meant for it to happen!

"Fine, whatever. Once. It was a fuckin' accident," Faith admits flatly, then points at him dangerously. "Never. Leaves. This. Room."

Xander laughs a little but makes a motion like he was zipping his lips and throwing away the key. But then he looks at her, eyebrow rising. "Wait, how was it an _accident?"_

"Fuck. I dunno. One minute I'm goin' down on Angelina Jolie and the next…" she doesn't finish her sentence; he gets it. "I think my time ran up and Angelina was just needed in someone else's fantasy so I got stuck with the runner up."

But that just makes Xander's eyebrow arc even higher. "Buffy's your second best after _Angelina Jolie?"_

"What? No! Fuck, Xand. I dunno. It just happened and… whatever. You've done it too so just… fuck it. Whatever. The end. Conversation over," Faith says, her defenses kicking in again. Xander holds up his hands in surrender.

"No need to get snippy."

"I wasn't getting _snippy."_

"You were snippy. You were snipping. You were full of sniptasticness," Xander tells her with a grin. Faith rolls her eyes, but smiles a little bit.

"Pretty sure snipstasticness isn't a word."

"It is. Look it up under the dictionary and it'll show a big picture of you," Xander quips. Faith flips him off and he makes a motion like he's grabbing it and putting it in his pocket. "Thanks, I'll save that for later."

"Whatever. Fuckin' dork," she says, but she's laughing.

"Yeah but you love me," Xander says with a grin. She's gotta agree there, she kinda does. Bit weird, seeing as she never thought she'd have friends. But it's nice. Cool. It's… good.

"Alright, get outta my house. I gotta do homework," Faith tells him, but she's still smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, _homework._ I probably have some of that too but I'd rather go home and watch TV," Xander says as he gets up and heads towards the door.

"I don't know how the hell you pass your classes, dude."

Xander smirks, "I copy off of Willow."

"Oh, she's gonna kill you if she finds out," Faith says with a laugh. But Xander just puts his finger to his lips, signaling her to not say a word. She just shakes her head a little at him. "Alright, I won't tell. But if she finds out – I never knew."

"Faith enough," Xander says as he opens the door. "Night Faith."

"Night X-Man."

**TBC…**


	11. Cryptic Messages

**CHAPTER ELEVEN  
****Cryptic Messages**

Faith strolls through the library doors the next morning, making Giles look up from behind his desk. He furrows his eyebrows at her. "Faith… shouldn't you be in Biology?"

Faith shrugs, "Probably." She leans against the counter on her elbows as Giles gives her a disapproving look.

"And is there any particular reason you're skipping it today?"

"Needed to talk to you," Faith tells him, turning around and placing her palms flat against the counter before hoisting herself up to sit on it. Giles narrows his eyes but doesn't tell her to get off of it, probably because he figures it's rather pointless.

"Regarding?" Giles asks as he puts away the book he was leafing through earlier, giving her his full attention.

Faith looks down and starts absentmindedly smoothing out her pants, feeling a little awkward though not sure as to why. She takes a breath, "Okay, this whole Slayer, Potential Slayer thing… is there like some kind of weird ass connection between the two?"

Giles looks confused. "What do you mean?"

Faith sighs, looking across the way instead of at him. "I mean like… Buffy, right? Whenever I'm around her I feel…" she starts moving her hands a little, trying to figure out the word but coming up blank.

"Feel…?" Giles prods.

Faith lets out another sigh, a little agitation at trying to have to explain it. "I dunno. It's like, whenever she's around, or looks at me or something I get… tingly."

"Tingly?" Giles asks evenly, though almost sounds like he's trying not to be amused.

"Yeah, like, my stomach does fuckin' back flips and my hairs stand on end. Is that normal?" Faith asks, looking at him finally.

Giles raises his eyebrows a little in surprise then hastily takes off his glasses and starts cleaning them; a sure sign he's uncomfortable. But Faith didn't know why the hell this conversation could be uncomfortable. "There are no known… _connections_ between a Slayer and a Potential," he starts, looking embarrassed. Faith cocks an eyebrow at him. "What you seem to be experiencing sounds like nothing more than nerves or maybe a bit of indigestion."

"Indigestion? What the fuck?" Faith asks incredulously. "G, something weird is going on. Aren't you all for research about new and fucked up things?"

"Faith, language," Giles reminds her tiredly as he puts his glasses back on. "And this conversation isn't exactly in my jurisdiction. Perhaps you should ask your mother."

"My mum?" Faith asks, confused. What the hell does her mother have to do with anything? "Giles, this is Slayer shit. You're my _Watcher."_

"Faith, I find it hard to believe that you have never experienced… this, before," Giles tells her, rather embarrassed. Faith's still wicked confused. "You spare no detail when recounting your…" he chooses his words carefully, "active sexual prowess to your friends in this very library, which, let me assure you, I wish you would withhold from doing when I am around."

"My _what?_ Dude, I don't wanna fuck B, are you serious?" Faith asks, her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. He's got to be joking. "I don't get the happy in my pants when she's around, this is different!"

Why the hell does everyone think she wants to bang the bitch? For real. Like she doesn't know the difference between wanting to rip someone's clothes off and having weird other feelings that can't be explained.

Giles still looks embarrassed though and Faith is far past frustrated. "This is fuckin' stupid. You really think that I would stoop low enough that I would want some two-faced, stuck up, annoying little—"

"Faith!" Giles exclaims, anger now apparent in his voice. "I will tell you this once, and once only, do you understand me? I don't care what goes on in your personal life and what your issue is with Buffy, but I will not have you belittling her, especially not to her face. She has been through more hell that you can even imagine."

"Yeah, yeah, her Watcher died, I know," Faith says dismissively, trying not to think about it. She can't really handle thinking about it because then it makes her feel again. Makes all those weird feelings come up that makes her want to comfort Buffy and hold her and _god damnit _why isn't Giles taking her weird feelings seriously? For fucks sake. This isn't normal at all. She's been with a lot of people and has never had those kinds of feelings. Hell, she can barely stand Buffy, has never once fucked her, so shouldn't that raise some red flags?

"She witnessed him getting ripped apart by fifteen vampires, Faith. They killed him in front of her and made her watch," Giles tells her softly. Faith blinks, trying to process that. Trying like _hell _not to get a mental image of that but yet she does and it makes her feel sick. She thought Buffy was exaggerating with the… ripping, part.

"They killed him, left… left him in pieces in front of her, Faith," Giles tells her, his voice shaking a little. "Then they knocked her out and left her there. They spared her. My only guess as to why, is that she is the Chosen One that the Zan'Hurrak are after and they are… I don't bloody know, torturing her, maybe. I haven't got a clue, but I am sure that they were the ones who gave the vampires their instructions. Not many vampires would spare a Slayer and as good as the Slayer is, coming up against fifteen vampires… the survival rate is slim to none. You need to understand something, Faith."

Faith doesn't look at him though; she's staring at the wall, trying like hell not to feel.

"Faith?" Faith looks over at him, taking a breath. Giles continues, "That is the life of the Slayer. Buffy has not been in it that long and yet she has witnessed more death and suffering than any one person should ever have to live through. The Slayer is strong, but she is still human. Buffy can still feel all that pain and she is grieving like any person should. But soon the grieving will stop, the shock will fade, and the Slayer will take over. She will go hunt every single one of those vampires down and kill them; I have no doubt about that."

Faith doesn't doubt that either. She would. If anything ever happened to Giles… fuck, she doesn't want to think about that. It's too real now. Imminent death is too fucking real right now.

"But she is not ready yet," Giles continues, "She has not yet learned to deal with grief and keep focus at the same time and so I am trying to keep her stable so she doesn't follow her instincts to kill when she isn't ready. So that is why I need you to please try to be somewhat pleasant to her before you push her over the edge. It is like what I told you about your anger. It clouds your mind and affects your judgment when you react based solely upon how you feel. It is the same with grief and it can be dangerous. Do you understand?"

Faith nods slowly, not trusting her voice. Fuck. That was… a mind fuck and a half. Ripped _apart?_ And she had to _watch?_ How the hell isn't she halfway to crazy town by now? Something like that… ain't that the shit people are put in mental hospitals for? Witnessing horrific death? God, it makes her fucking sick to her stomach.

"Now," Giles says, trying to move on from that. "The bell should be ringing in just a moment. Could you please find Buffy, Willow, and Xander and bring them here?"

Faith furrows her eyebrows and looks at him. "Why? What's up?"

"I will tell you all when we are together. So please?" he indicates the door and Faith slides off the counter. "I'm sure you know that Willow and Xander are coming out of Biology, where_ you're_ supposed to be," he gives her a disapproving look. "And Buffy should be getting out of English right now."

"On it," Faith says, walking away and out the door just as the bell rings. She tries to clear her head of the conversation she and Giles just had. Disassociate. She's good at that. She watches students flood out of the classroom for lunch; Faith spots Willow and Xander first and waves them over.

"Faith," Willow says, surprised. "Where were you?"

"Talkin' to G. Listen, he wants us all to meet up in there. Lemme go grab B and I'll meet you," Faith says, still scanning the crowd for any sign of the blonde.

"Are we all going to die?" Xander asks, worry in his voice.

"What?" Faith asks, turning her attention to her friend. "Nah, I don't think so. He didn't act like he was on death row, anyway. Or, I guess more so than we already are." Her eyes spot Buffy at her locker and she gives him a pat on the shoulder as she walks away. "I'll be there in a sec."

Buffy seems absorbed in what she's doing and Faith smirks a bit as she leans against the lockers, behind her open locker door. When Buffy closes it and see's her standing there she almost jumped out of her skin, but only before her hand clasped around her throat and pushes her flat up against it. Then her eyes go wide as she sees who it is and she lets go.

"Christ, B! What the fuck is your issue?" Faith asks, pushing the blonde off of her before rubbing her throat and glaring at her. Yeah, she's gonna have to work on this whole being nice thing. Though it might help if Buffy wasn't trying to fuckin' strangle her. Shit.

Then again, maybe sneaking up on the Slayer wasn't the best plan in the world.

"Sorry. You— Reaction. Don't sneak up on me like that!" Buffy defends, taking a breath. "Sorry," she says again, sounding more apologetic this time.

"Whatever," Faith says, just trying to brush it off. "Giles called a meeting; wants us to meet him in the library right now."

"But lunch…" Buffy starts, a pout forming on her lips. Faith rolls her eyes and digs a Snickers bar out of her pocket and throws it at her. Buffy catches it easily but makes a face as she holds it. "It's all… squishy."

"You're welcome," Faith says flatly as she turns away, walking down the hall. Jeez, try to be fuckin' nice…

"Sorry," Buffy says, catching up to her. She walks beside her, looking over at the brunette who doesn't look back at her. "Thank you."

"Whatever."

"Is that the only word in your vocabulary?" Buffy asks with bit off a huff at being constantly dismissed with it.

Faith smirks and says, "Whatever," just to annoy her.

They both walk into the library and are greeted by Giles, Willow, and Xander. Faith strolls right up to the counter and hops on, taking a seat. "So what's up, G? Xan-Man here thinks we're all about to die or something."

"Hey, it's a valid suspicion," Xander defends.

Faith just shrugs. Yeah, probably. Buffy makes her way over to Faith, leaning against the counter next to where she was sitting. Faith raises an eyebrow at her choice of placement in the room but doesn't say anything. Didn't they say they were gonna not like each other? Usually that would entail space. But she doesn't say anything because Giles is there and she said she'd get along with her, at least for now.

She does have some compassion, after all.

"Actually Xander, it seems to be quite the opposite," Giles says, walking over to them and placing a piece of parchment on the table in front of them. Both Faith and Buffy look at it curiously, then at each other, before stepping away from the counter and walking over to where it lay.

Faith leans on the table, looking down as she reads the message.

"_All will be kept safe until a fortnight before the splitting, which will occur in three phases of the moon. Prepare her."_

"Cryptic, much?" Buffy asks after she reads it herself.

"The Zan'Hurrak are manipulators of fate, which could mean that they could be the composers of prophecy. Many prophecies are worded as this is," Giles says, picking it up again; studying it.

"Where'd you find it?" Faith asks.

"My office. On my desk this morning," Giles says softly.

"Okay, who else isn't feeling so safe anymore?" Xander asks, raising his hand. Willow raises hers as well, followed shortly after by Buffy and Faith.

"Actually, I believe we are, at least from them for the time being," Giles tells them. "The Zan'Hurrak seems to be following some sort of timeline and if killing us doesn't fall precisely where it needs to be than there will not be any needless death. By this, I assume we are all safe until two weeks shy of three months from now."

"What happens then?" Faith asks, folding her arms across her chest.

Giles take a breath, looking at the page. "It speaks of a splitting. We should start researching that, though it's vague. I'll speak to the Council; see if they have a take on it. In the meantime, they seem to want me to prepare Buffy for… whatever it is that may happen."

"Prepare me how?" Buffy asks.

"I don't know. I will double your training schedule; try to get you as ready as possible. In the mean time, we will still keep up the protection spell; better safe than sorry. And Faith? You will be training with Buffy. I feel that it would be wise to train you just as much as her, in case…" he stops, realizing what he just implied.

"In case what?" Buffy asks indignantly. She folds her arms in front of her chest. "In case I _die?"_

Xander clears his throat awkwardly and Faith purses her lips together, raising her eyebrows and looking at Giles with a 'well you just shoved your foot in your mouth' look.

"We must be prepared," Giles says, stuttering a little. "That doesn't mean that I don't have complete faith in you, Buffy."

Faith makes a horrified face at the way those words came out and Xander snorts a little while Buffy blushes and Willow looks at them all like they need to get their head out of the gutter. They probably do. But hell, she wasn't the only one thinking about how the sounded!

Giles looks at them all disapprovingly. "You know what I meant. What you two do in your spare time…"

"We don't do anything!" Faith and Buffy exclaim at the same time, equally as loud. Then they look at each other and take a step back, as if warding off unwanted attention. Xander's still cracking up and Willow smacks his arm.

"Well, regardless," Giles says, trying to not look too flustered at the interaction. "Lunch is almost over; I suggest you all grab something before your next class." And then he turns and leaves, probably just wanting to get the hell away from all of them and their teenage minds.

Faith looks over at Buffy cautiously, almost at the exact same time Buffy does. Their eyes connect and then they both take another step back from each other for good measure. Yeah, see? And this is why Faith thought space would be good. They just need to hate each other and things will go back to normal.

Except that it's not working all that well. Faith can still feel her stomach doing somersaults inside of her each time Buffy catches her eye. Fuck, what is happening? Why can't Giles take this shit seriously?

"So, Faith," Xander says, getting out of his chair. "Are we still Bronzing tonight?"

Faith tears her eyes away from Buffy to look over at him. "Yeah, Friday night. Nothin' else to do in this town."

"Ohh Buffy, you should come!" Willow says excitedly, earning a glare from Faith. Well, great. Fuckin' fantastic. Because space works really well when they _invite her along._

"Um…" Buffy says, shifting her eyes to look over at Faith's unwelcoming glare. "No thanks, I think I'm going to just stay in…"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Willow says, coming over to Buffy and putting her hand on her arm before looking over to Faith. "Won't it be fun, Faith?"

"Yeah," Faith says flatly. "_Fun." _Xander gives her a look as he walks over to her and lightly bumps her arm, saying more with his eyes. Faith sighs, defeated. "You should come along." Damnit. What the hell.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asks, obviously still not sensing the welcoming since it isn't really there to begin with.

"Yeah. Whatever," Faith says with a shrug, trying to sound indifferent.

"See?" Willow presses.

Buffy shrugs a little, but still looks a bit apprehensive. "Okay… I guess. It could be fun." Willow beams at her, looping her arm through Buffy's before starting to walk out with her. Faith narrows her eyes.

"It'll be cool, w-we can all hang out without all the evil doom around us and…" Willow's voice fades into nothing as they walk out of the library doors. Faith huffs and leans against the counter, arms crossed over her chest as she shoots a glare at Xander.

"Stealing my friends," she says again, flatly.

"Come on, Faith. It's one night," Xander tells her, putting his arm around her shoulder. "After what Buffy went through, maybe we should—"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Faith says, pushing his arm off of her as she starts to walk away. He follows her. "I wish people would stop fuckin' telling me what she went though like I don't fuckin' get it," Faith snaps as she pushes open the doors to the library, practically stomping down the hall.

"Faith, we're not trying to—" Xander starts, but he's interrupted by Faith rounding on him.

"Look, I get that I'm a bitch, okay? I get that I should be nicer to the girl who had to witness her Watcher get torn to fuckin' shreds, alright? But you just don't get it, Xander. None of you do!"

"Then why don't you explain it?" Xander asks, keeping his voice calm. Not judging, not attacking, just curious. It's probably the only thing that saves him from her from tearing him a new asshole.

"It could have been Giles!" Faith yells before punching one of the lockers hard. Her hand stings but she doesn't care, she just keeps yelling. "It could_ be_ Giles, Xand! I mean for fuck's sake, I get it, _okay?_ I look at the bitch and see what might happen again. And yet all I wanna do is bloody fix it and make her stop crying because, I don't know, we have some weird fuckin' connection that Giles won't even _acknowledge _exists!"

"Whoa, slow down," Xander says softly, coming over to Faith cautiously. "Hey," he says, putting his hand on her arm. "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't know what you were… Wait," he says, realization dawning on him. "Did you just say _bloody?_ You've been hanging around Giles too much." He gives her a small smirk and she tries to give him one back but can't bring herself too.

It wasn't Giles. It was her fuckin' father coming out in her. God damnit. She tries to suppress that as much as she can. It sounds wicked retarded when his stupid British words slip out around her Boston accent. Fuckin' prick. He's dead to her and yet is always haunting her. She hates that he's a part of her.

"Just forget it," Faith grumbles, brushing him off of her. But Xander holds his grip and pulls her back to him while she sneers.

"Don't go all defensive-girl on me," Xander says seriously. "We're all freaked out, Faith. You're not the only one."

"I know that," Faith growls. She's really not looking to have a heart-to-heart here, but she doesn't want to be a complete cunt and throw insults at Xander until he lets her go without a fight. She knows that's the only reason he'll ever let her go too. He cares too damn much.

"Besides, I am in firm belief that we are not going to die," Xander says, to which Faith looks at him skeptically.

"Weren't you convinced we were like a half an hour ago?"

"That was then, this is now," Xander replies, like that was a valid justification. It makes Faith smirk a little, amused. He smiles, "See? Cheer up. Nobody's going to die; at least not until three months, apparently."

"That's comforting," Faith says dryly, staring at the classroom door across from her; looking at her reflection. She looked tired. She _was_ tired.

She sighs, moving away from him a little, trying to go get some lunch before it's over and she starves. But he stops her. "Hey… what you said about Buffy… what were you talking about? A connection?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Faith says, starting to walk away but knowing he was going to follow anyway. "Giles just… he says it's nothin', like I'm makin' this shit up in my head or something. I dunno. Whatever." Okay, as for not talking about it goes, that was pretty much a failure. She needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. The damn thing just opens automatically sometimes.

"What happened? Do you get some sort of creepy voodoo vibe off of her or something? _Is she secretly evil?"_

"No! I dunno, okay? I just… feel her. Feel for her. Something. Like I'm drawn to her like some sort of fuckin' puppet. It's really stupid, okay? I think it's the whole Slayer thing but Giles won't pay attention to it," Faith tells him, her annoyance at Giles showing in her words. He thought she wanted to fuck her. Jesus Christ. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay? Can we just go grab some food? I'm fuckin' starved."

"Okay," Xander says, letting it go. He knows better than to push too hard or too far. "But I gotta warn you… it's 'meatloaf surprise' day."

Faith groans. _Great._

**TBC…**


	12. Juvenile Delinquent Complex

**_A/N: Yes, this was how bitches were in my high school. LOL. This may be me working through some of that in my own special way. Writing is therapy! *snickers*_**

**CHAPTER TWELVE  
****Juvenile Delinquent Complex**

There are a lot of things Faith would rather do than hang out with Buffy.

Getting a root canal would be one of them. Hell, maybe even getting a spinal tap too; maybe at the same fucking time. Which, in case she hasn't been completely clear on the matter, pretty much means she'd rather be doing anything but this.

The problem is though, it's not because she hates her. Unfortunately that isn't even an issue anymore, though she doesn't really see how that happened. Maybe she'll blame it on all the crying Buffy does or Faith's humanitarian side. Whatever. She's been having conflicting emotions about Buffy Summers throughout the day and it's getting a little too hard to handle.

The day started by avoiding her. Faith didn't really give much thought to Buffy or anyone else because she was trying to stop with all the drama. But then here comes Buffy in all her Slayer glory and Faith wants to tear her apart for having the one thing she ever wanted. But duty, destiny, the intense urge not to _die_ brought her back and she tried to deal. She tried to ignore Buffy and her pain and just focus on her own. And then… then she fucked up and Buffy broke and Faith held her while she cried.

What the fuck is going on?

There's a part of her that's still pissed about the Slayer thing. Even though she thinks it's fuckin' horrific, what Buffy went through, and though she knows she never wants to go through something like that, there's a part of her that still wants it; wants the destiny. Maybe even still needs it. It doesn't make sense. The last thing Faith needs is to watch people die; feel the guilt of not being able to stop it. But then again, she'd have a better chance of stopping it as a Slayer than as just a regular girl. She doesn't know how Buffy is still sane, still trying to smile as she sits here and hangs out with her and her friends.

Buffy's strong. Faith can give her credit for that, if not for anything else.

It pisses Faith off how much Buffy almost… intrigues her. Slayer connection or not, it's still there. It frustrates her to fuck and back again though how Giles just dismissed her feelings as some kind of attraction to Buffy. And yeah, maybe she can admit that she's attracted to her on a physical level. She'd have to be blind or damn near stupid if she wasn't. But Faith knows what the "I want you" feeling feels like. She knows the fire burning in the pit of her stomach and the anticipation of a good fuck running through her veins. She doesn't get that with Buffy. It's not something lustful. It's her stomach break dancing inside of her and every inch of her skin being aware of Buffy's presence. Her heart speeds up and her breathing increases and she just… she feels a bit connected to her, in whatever way. She needs to be near her.

And that's gotta be due to the Slayer thing, right? What other explanation is there?

But Faith won't give into it. She doesn't want to be near Buffy just because some insane feeling that she gets inside whenever the girl is around. She refuses to let it control her, so she fights it. The better half of the night has been dedicated to staying the hell away from the blonde Slayer, getting drunk, and avoiding her gaze. So far it's working out pretty well.

"Uh oh, look who just came in," Xander says under his breath as he nudges Faith a little, making her look up towards the entrance.

Cordelia. With Harmony in tow, of course.

"Fuck her, man," Faith says with a shrug. "What's she gonna do? Keep runnin' her mouth? Fuck it." Faith picks up the shot and holds it up to Xander.

"You know she's gonna say something to Buffy if she sees her," Xander says, but holds up shot up and clinks their glasses together before they both slam down the alcohol quickly. Xander makes a face at the taste.

"B can fight her own battles," Faith says, her eyes flickering over to Buffy and Willow who are sitting together at a table in the corner, talking and smiling. Faith's upper lip curls a little and she slams her hand down on the counter, trying get the bartenders attention.

"Yes, _Ma'am,"_ Trish, the bartender mocks as she raises an eyebrow at Faith's demanding manner.

"Two more," Faith says flatly.

"You just see an ex?" Trish asks with a laugh as she grabs the bottle of Jack Daniels and starts pouring.

Xander pats Faith on the back comfortingly but addresses Trish. "Jealous. She thinks someone's stealing her friends." Faith directs her sneer at him.

"Shut up. Seriously."

"Hey, better some bitch stealing your friends then your girlfriend," Trish says as she puts the bottle away.

"I don't _do_ girlfriends," Faith says flatly. Trish smirks.

"Trust me, I know." She slides the shots over to Faith and Xander, but doesn't keep her eyes off of Faith. "On the house, lover. Though do me a favor and try to keep the drinking to a minimum tonight. I know what happens when you don't and frankly I'd like you to stop fucking with my head."

Faith smirks, her tongue snaking out as she looks Trish over, her eyes landing on her breasts before going back up to her face. "You didn't complain last time." She takes the shot in her hand but doesn't drink it yet. "Besides, I told you straight up what it was the last couple times we did it. I might fuck around, but I don't fuck with anyone's head."

"Sweetie, you fuck with everyone's head. You might be direct, but that doesn't mean you don't purposely leave us wanting more," Trish tells her as she leans sexily over the bar, giving Faith a nice view of her cleavage. Trish cocks an eyebrow at her, noticing Faith staring at her breasts again, before some other customer asks for her attention. "Enjoy," she says in a low voice, before turning away.

"Now she's fucking with _my _head," Faith says with a sigh as she feels the desire form in the pit of her stomach. She sighs and looks over at Xander who's smirking at her. "What?"

"Can I ask how many women you've slept with or will you kick my ass?" Xander asks, the alcohol making him a little bolder. Faith laughs a little.

"Not as many as you probably think," Faith says honestly, but amused.

"Hey, hey!" Xander says, looking across the bar but slapping Faith's arm with the back of his hand insistently. Faith scowls and slaps him back.

"What?! Damn, boy. Relax."

"Buffy just spotted Cordelia," Xander says, with a smirk as wide as his face. He turns to her, "Guess what she just did?"

Faith looks at him like he's gone insane for a minute before realization dawns on her and she laughs. "Oh no _way._ She checked out her ass? Even after her being a bitch to her?"

Xander smirks and raises his shot, "Drinking game on?"

Faith laughs and picks up her shot, clinking it to his. "Drinking game on," she says before they down their shots, feeling the burn slide down their throats. "Trish!" Faith calls, sliding the empty shot glasses down the bar. She holds up four fingers.

"Four?" Xander asks.

Faith shrugs. "Hey, we might as well be prepared."

They watch Buffy for a bit as Trish slides them a couple more shots. Buffy seemed to be deep in conversation with Willow, but Faith and Xander notice her steal a couple glances in Cordelia's direction, who still seems not to have noticed Buffy's presence. Finally her eyes make a full sweep of Cordelia's backside and Xander and Faith cheer and down their shots.

"Do you think she knows she's doing it?" Xander asks.

Faith shrugs as she gets off of the bar stool and stretches a little. She turns and leans against the bar, elbows behind her so that her chest is more on display. It's just habit. "I think she's knee deep in denial," Faith tells him. "But that ain't our problem, so whatever."

"I think it's more your problem than anyone else's right now," Xander tells her, which makes Faith look at him in confusion.

"Uh… why?"

"Because Buffy just checked you out. Not very subtly either. There might have been drool involved," Xander says, halfway between a smirk and shock.

"What?" Faith asks, her head spinning around to look at Buffy, whose eyes go wide at being caught staring and her head drops to stare at her drink automatically. Faith rounds on Xander. "You're a liar." She knows he isn't, Buffy blushed all kinds of red, but in her head she'd rather he was and that didn't just happen.

"Hey, scouts honor," Xander says, holding up three fingers.

"Wrong hand."

"What?" Xander asks, looking at his hand. "How the hell do you know?" Faith just smirks while Xander looks confused. "Well, anyway, she did," Xander says finally.

"Great," Faith says dryly. She makes a point to not look over at Buffy. She's feeling a little weird.

"Oh come on, Faith. I know what you said before, but I also know you can't resist getting a little—"

"If you value the use of your mouth, you'll shut it," Faith says, turning around to get her last shot and downing it. She just needs a damn drink. "I ain't fuckin' with all that, Xand. I don't do closet cases."

"You did Harmony."

"Fluke! Does no one fuckin' listen to me when I say that word? I was _drunk,"_ Faith protests. "I like my women a little less with a stick up their ass and a little more willingness to get naked, thanks."

"So you wouldn't, even if—?" Xander presses, but is interrupted but a furious glare shot in his direction.

"No!"

Xander holds up his hands in defense. "You're getting sniptastic again." Faith rolls her eyes and grabs Xander's shot, doing it for him. "Hey!" he protests. She just smirks.

"You should've been quicker."

"You know, you're going to regret this when you're falling over drunk and I'm sober as a whistle," Xander tells her.

Faith raises an eyebrow. "A whistle?"

"Well have you ever seen a whistle that's drunk?"

"Whatever. And I'm not gonna be falling over drunk. Worst case scenario? I take Trish back to the storage room and fuck her brains out. Which, really, ain't a bad sitch if ya think about it."

"Seriously, why do you_ always_ get all the hot chicks?" Xander complains.

Faith smirks, cockiness in her tone, "Because I'm hot." Xander rolls his eyes, then looks up, over at Willow and Buffy. His face falls.

"Uh oh."

"What?" Faith asks, then turns to see what he's looking at. She scowls at the sight of Cordelia doing the bitch thing to Buffy and Willow. Jesus. Like this is what she needs right now. But Willow's looking intimidated and Faith isn't about to let that happen so she gets up, walking over to them.

Cordelia's voice floods through the music the closer she gets, "—you would ever be that pathetic as to stoop so low as to hang out with the scum of the school, Buffy."

"Problem?" Faith asks in a mockingly sweet voice as she slides in between Buffy and Willow, leaning her arms on the table as she smiles at Cordelia across from her in no way that looks like it's meant to be comforting.

"Ugh, Faith," Cordelia scoffs, like she's less than dirt. "Go away. The last thing anyone needs is the dyke virus you keep trying to spread around."

"Speaking of, where _is_ Harmony?" Faith asks, leering a bit. "If she's in the bathroom you better go check on her Cordy, wouldn't want her to fall back into old habits."

"Go slit your wrists, Faith."

"Leave her alone, Cordelia. If you have a problem with me, then have a problem with me. You don't have to be a bitch to everyone," Buffy says, glaring at her. Cordelia raises her eyebrows, amused.

"Aw, did I just insult your girlfriend, Buffy? Wouldn't be surprised if you're hanging out with this trash; you've got to be infected by now. Does she touch you just the way you like it? No wonder Scott dumped you," Cordelia taunts, which makes Buffy's eyes go wide. Hell, Faith's too. Cordelia would say a lot, but never anything like that. Faith's coming to the conclusion that Cordelia is probably a little bit drunk now.

"We can't all aspire to be cum guzzling thunder cunts like you, Cordelia," Faith says with a smile, knowing that it's going to piss her off.

"_What_ did you just call me?" Cordelia asks, her own eyes wide in anger. Cordelia snarls at the insult and grabs Buffy's drink, throwing it at Faith.

The cold beverage soaks Faith's tank top and all she sees is red. Everything else around her blurs to nothing as her anger takes over her whole body. Suddenly the table they were sitting at is knocked over, falling to the ground with a smash and Cordelia's throat is in Faith's hand as she slams her up against a wall hard. Cordelia screams and tries to fend Faith off, but Faith's fist is raised and she's ready to just murder her.

"You don't _fucking_ throw things at me, bitch!" Faith screams, but before her fist makes impact, she's grabbed from behind.

"Faith, don't!"

"Get the _fuck_ off of me!" Faith screams, but Buffy grabs her other arm, pulling Faith tight against her and locking her arms in place. Faith struggles, swearing up a storm, but Buffy's too strong. It only infuriates her more. "Bitch if you don't let me go right now I'm gonna fuckin' kill you too!"

"You can try," Buffy says, not at all feeling threatened as she holds Faith back as Cordelia picks herself up off of the wall.

"You stupid _skank!"_ Cordelia screams, rubbing her throat. "You'll be hearing from my lawyer, bitch!"

"What, you mean your Daddy's lawyer?" Faith laughs icily. "We all know the only reason you're Daddy's little girl is cause you let him slide his cock in your tight little ass every now and then!" Even Buffy gasps at that. Yeah, Faith knows that's low and a really vile thing to say. She also knows it's not true, but it had the desired effect.

Cordelia starts calling her every name in the book, kicking off her heels before she comes at her. She swings, but she misses because Buffy lets go of Faith for a second to stop it. But that gives Faith time to elbow Cordelia in the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. She tries to go after her, do more damage, but she's grabbed from behind again by Buffy who's now the one swearing at her. The music is loud and Faith can only catch every other word from her sting of obscenities but she's pretty sure Buffy just called her a stupid bitch more than once.

"Get off of me!" Faith yells again, still furious about Buffy's strength. But Buffy's dragging her away from Cordelia, her grip so tight on Faith that it's actually painful. Before she knows it she's hauled into the women's room and thrown up against the wall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Buffy screams.

"Oh go fuck yourself," Faith snaps, though not very loud since the wind was knocked out of her from the force of being thrown. She coughs a little, pain evident in her shoulder.

"Do you just wake up and think, 'Hey, I have a fun idea, today I'll get a restraining order!'?!?" Buffy mockingly yells at her. "Do you have any self control at all?!"

"The bitch threw a fucking drink at me, what the hell would you have done?!" Faith screams, her hands connecting with Buffy's shoulder, trying to push her away roughly, but Buffy slips her hands inside of Faith's arms and pushes them off of her, before slamming Faith back up against the wall so fast that Faith didn't even realized she moved until she was feeling pain again. "Fucking bitch," Faith snarls.

"Once again, your vocabulary is just_ flourishing_," Buffy says dryly, her eyes flashing in anger.

"I should've fucked you up when I had the chance," Faith snarls. Buffy rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to shed a few tears over that one," Buffy mocks. "Now will you just calm down before—"

But she's interrupted as Willow bursts in through the bathroom door. "Faith!" she exclaims, looking worried. "T-The cops are here."

"Shit," Faith swears. She looks around the bathroom and spots a window. She turns back to Willow, "Get Xander and get out of here. I'll be okay, ain't no way I'm getting my ass hauled to jail." Willow just stands there though so Faith insists, "Go! Seriously!" Willow just blinks at her before nodding and leaving.

"Faith!" Buffy yells.

Faith turns, ignoring Buffy and runs over to the window, trying to open it. It doesn't budge though so she elbows the glass, making it shatter.

"What are you—?!" Buffy screams, shock coloring her face before anger. "What is with your juvenile delinquent complex?!"

"Fuck off," Faith says as she hoists herself up, crawling through the window. She can feel a piece of glass cut her palm as she climbs out the window, but ignores it. When she gets outside she stands on her feet and looks back to see Buffy crawling out the window after her. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Buffy gets up, standing to face her. "You're an idiot, Faith! What are you gonna do? Run through the back alleys of Sunnydale at _night?"_

"Yeah, that'd be exactly what I'm doing, Blondie. _Without you."_ Faith turns to walk away but Buffy grabs her arm, pulling hard so Faith rounds to face her. Faith snarls, trying to get her arm out of her grasp but finds that she can't.

"It's not safe!" Buffy tells her, letting her go. "Vampires are always—"

"I can handle myself, B. Don't need a babysitter or a knight in shining pastels for that matter," Faith snaps, turning to walk away. But Buffy's eyes go wide suddenly and she grabs Faith, practically throwing her around the side of the building and into a dark corner, making her crouch down behind the dumpster. She slaps a hand over Faith's mouth to keep her from talking.

Faith starts to scream obscenities behind her hand, but falls silent quickly when Buffy shoves her once to get her point across. Faith then hears two men talking faintly. Cops. Faith's heart starts beating wildly and she stays perfectly still. Buffy doesn't move her hand, making sure Faith keeps quiet even though she's not stupid. After a couple minutes Faith hears footsteps retreating and Buffy takes her hand off of Faith's mouth. Faith takes a deep breath.

"Why did you do that?" Faith asks softly, idly wondering why Buffy is helping her get away from cops.

"Because I don't need you in _jail,_ you moron," Buffy whispers back, still angry. She gets up, dusting off her pants before she grabs Faith's hand – very much without her permission – and basically pulls her off the ground. "Come on," she says, starting to run, pulling Faith along with her.

"I told you I didn't want you to fucking—" Faith starts, running behind Buffy as she's basically pulled along through the back alleyways.

"Just shut up for once," Buffy snaps as she keeps running. She looks over her shoulder and shoots her an indignant look, "And _you're welcome_, by the way."

"Whatever," Faith growls, not approving of this whole being saved by Buffy plan that seems to be in effect at the moment. The two run down a couple alley ways until Buffy finally stops, getting them a far enough distance away from The Bronze. Faith shakes Buffy's hand off of her, which makes Buffy finally let go and she puts her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath. Buffy doesn't seem winded at all.

Stupid Slayer shit.

"You know that Cordelia is going to give them your name and file a report now, right?" Buffy asks her, looking down at the brunette. Faith stands up, rubbing the pain from her shoulder, still angry.

"Don't give a shit."

"Yeah? Well I do," Buffy says, eyes flashing. "We have demons who want to _kill us_, Faith. The last thing we need is for you to be stupid and get your ass thrown in jail because you can't control yourself. No wonder Giles is making you train with me; you're an emotional time bomb!"

"You don't know anything about me!" Faith yells, the fury rising in her again. She knows she can't control it, she also knows that Buffy makes it worse. She ignites the passion inside of her and right now it's all pointed at the anger gage. She tries to come at her, but finds herself slammed back against another wall, only this time it's brick and _fuck _one of the uneven ones just stuck her lower back hard.

"Will you just _chill out?!"_ Buffy yells, holding her there. Her eyes are flashing, her muscles poised. Her hair's a bit wild, strands falling in her face and damn… she looked fuckin' sexy.

Fuck, maybe she is a little drunk.

With that realization, it seems like all the liquor Faith consumed finally hits her… and hits her hard. "You know," Faith says, wincing a bit from the pain, but then her face forms into a leer. She licks her bottom lip a little, eyeing her up before she cocks her head at the blonde. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're beginning to like putting us in this position."

Faith can see a flash of desire behind Buffy's eyes as she realizes the intimacy in it, but it's gone quickly, replaced by an eye roll. "Probably not for the same reason that you like it," she says, the tone of her voice like she's putting her down for being such a slut; Faith growls.

"Oh go choke on a horse dick, Summers. I saw you check me out at the bar," Faith says, suddenly all her intentions shifting quickly. She can feel the tingles again; all over her. Her stomach's going stark nuts and her hearts speeding up but it's not just that… she can feel it now. Suddenly, out of nowhere; lust, the burn in the pit of her stomach and the anticipation running hot under her skin. It's probably the liquor, but she really doesn't care at this point.

Even if she doesn't fuck her, she can damn sure fuck _with_ her and still come out relatively satisfied. Anger and lust seems to be on equal terms when it comes to Buffy right now. She's too drunk to think about it, let alone stop it.

"You know what I think?" Faith asks, her voice coming out as a throaty whisper as she leans her head in a little, getting more in Buffy's space.

"I don't care," Buffy says, but it doesn't come out as firm or indifferent as she obviously wanted it too. Faith feels Buffy's grip slackening on her shoulders, letting Faith get up off the wall slowly. Buffy takes a small step back, but she still keeps her hands on Faith's shoulders, trying to keep distance, but not trying very hard.

"I think you look at me and you can't help but wonder what it'd be like," Faith taunts her, a little cocky. Buffy's eyes are wide as Faith goes on as she leans in a bit, whispering with a little chuckle, "And you know what else I think?" Buffy doesn't have a chance to answer though, because all of a sudden Faith grabs her, spinning her around until Buffy's the one with her back against the wall. Faith presses against her, lips to Buffy's ear as she says quietly, "I think that if you didn't want it, I wouldn't have been able to just do that…"

"I'm not gay," Buffy manages to get out, yet still doesn't make Faith get off of her even though they both know she can. She just stands there, stock still like if she moves she's afraid that she won't move _away_ from Faith.

Faith laughs a little, low in her ear. She can feel Buffy shudder a little at the feeling. "No?" Faith lets her lips drag against Buffy neck and she hears her gasp softly. Faith presses her lips to Buffy's ear, speaking so softly she can barely even hear herself, but knows Buffy is feeling every word, "You couldn't even _begin_ to imagine the things I could do to you, B. I'd get you to pop so fuckin' hard you'd swear you'd gone blind. But you'd keep screamin' anyway, begging me to let you touch heaven just a little bit longer…"

"Shit," Buffy swears softly, the word coming out almost as a breathy sigh of defeat. Faith can feel Buffy press against her instinctively, almost invitingly. But then she says another, "SHIT!" louder this time before pushing Faith off of her. "Vampires!"

"What?" Faith asks, confused. She turns around and sees two shadows coming towards them. "Oh, fuck."

**TBC…**


	13. Embarrassment

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
****Embarrassment**

"Faith?"

"Yeah?"

Buffy lifts up her jeans, grabbing two stakes that she had strapped to her leg. She looks over and tosses one to Faith, who catches it easily. "Try not to get eaten."

Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. "I was hoping to get eaten, but not by one of them." Buffy flushes red and it makes Faith smirk.

"Don't distract me either," Buffy tells her with a pointed look, but Faith can see a shy smile trying to sneak out. She turns back to the vampires who are closing in on them. "You boys looking to party?" Buffy asks them with a 'blonde ditz' attitude and a hand on her hip. Faith can't help but snort behind her.

"You could say that," one of them responds, getting close enough for the street light to illuminate their deformed faces. They both snarl and Faith's grip on her stake tightens. She's not nervous though; there's only two and she's sure Buffy can take care of them without a problem.

"I dunno, B. I mean, look at them. They're kinda ugly," Faith says, leaning against the wall nonchalantly. "I think we can score hotter."

"They are kind of deformed," Buffy says, coking her head to the side a bit to peer at them. "Inbreeding?" she suggests lightly, which makes Faith laugh. Buffy's cool demeanor makes Faith feel a lot better about the situation and she just stands back and watches the Slayer work.

"Why aren't they screaming?" the other asks the first, confused.

"You must be new," Buffy says, like she's explaining something to a child. "Let me introduce myself; I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." She holds up her stake and smiles.

"Slayer?" the confused one asks.

"Shit," the other says, but doesn't back down. Not that he really has a chance to because before Faith can even register that Buffy has moved, she's delivered a roundhouse kick to the first, sending him sprawling on the ground before turning to the second.

The way Buffy moves is almost like physical poetry, only more violent. Faith can't help but appreciate it. She makes everything look so easy and every move she makes has a purpose. She takes some hits but she lands so many more. The confused vampire goes poof into a pile of dust quickly and the other isn't far behind. An uppercut to the jaw, a kick to the stomach and the vampire lands on the ground. Buffy's above him, that cocky look on her face as she slams the stake down into his chest making his last scream turns into nothing but an echo in the wind.

Buffy dusts herself off and turns around to face Faith. "Not to say 'I told you so' about the alleys, but…"

"Yeah, yeah," Faith responds with an eye roll and a bit of a scowl as she mockingly says, "My hero."

Buffy smirks and Faith tosses the stake back to her. "No," Buffy says, throwing it back to Faith. "You should keep that on you. Like, every day probably. I can't believe you don't already."

Faith shrugs. "Never thought about it."

"Faith, you're a Potential Slayer. How can you walk around unarmed after knowing what goes on at night?" Buffy asks incredulously.

"Who says I'm unarmed?" Faith asks with a smirk as lifts up her tank top a little to show Buffy a nasty looking knife that's hooked on her belt.

"It may have, I don't know, flown over your head or something, but stabbing a vampire with a knife isn't going to kill it," Buffy says flatly.

"No, but it can cut through bone; sever the head," Faith says with a smirk.

Buffy looks disgusted, "Okay, one; thanks for the serial killer visual. Two; if you think you can actually subdue a vampire long enough to slice through its head with that little knife, you're delirious. You're not a Slayer, you don't have the strength."

"Whatever," Faith says, scoffing before she starts to walk down the alley and towards the street. "Fuck off. You don't know what I'm capable of."

"Just do me a favor and keep the stake on you now, okay?" Buffy asks, apparently deciding to ignore all of the brunette's rude retorts as she catches up to her. Faith rolls her eyes, annoyed now.

"Why do you give a shit?"

"I'm sorry, would you rather I feed you to the next vampire we come across? Because that could be arranged," Buffy says, her own annoyance clear now. She folds her arms into herself as she walks side by side with Faith down the street.

"Go for it, Blondie."

"What is your problem?" Buffy asks, stopping. Faith rounds on her as she stops too.

"_My _problem?"

"Yes, _your _problem," Buffy reiterates. "One minute you stand up for me, the next you want to fight me, then you practically hump my leg in the alley and now you're bitchy again. So again I ask, what the hell is your problem?"

"Maybe I'm on my rag," Faith says sarcastically. "What's it to you?"

"You're not on your period," Buffy states.

"Okay, how the hell would _you _know?" Buffy flushes a little and Faith's eyes go wide. "No, seriously, how the fuck do you know that?"

"I just… know, okay?" Buffy says, turning red as she starts walking down the street. Faith goes after her.

"No, you can't just say shit like that and walk away," Faith says, grabbing Buffy's arm and making her turn around to face her. "What, do Slayers have some kind of fuckin' weird period tracking… whatever the fuck?"

"We have a heightened sense of smell, okay?" Buffy says, her face turning redder. Faith makes a disgusted face.

"That's fuckin' nasty, you know that right?"

"Just shut up, Faith. It's not like I asked for any of this," Buffy snaps, shrugging Faith off of her before turning to walk down the street again. Faith stares at her for a minute before catching up.

"So what, you got senses like an animal or somethin'?" She's not mocking anymore; just curious. It's fuckin' weird, but also a little cool.

"I don't know. My vision's better, my hearing's better, and my sense of smell is better so… I guess so," Buffy says softly, still a little embarrassed.

"Can you like… track people?"

Buffy rolls her eyes. "Do I look like a dog to you?" She pauses, then decides that wasn't a safe question to ask. "Don't answer that." Faith laughs a little.

"No, I mean like… if you can smell bitches who are on their rag, which, still fuckin' gross, but whatever… can you smell people when they're not? Like do I got some kind of scent?" Faith asks, her own curiosity making her forget that she was pissed off at Buffy earlier.

"You want to know what you smell like to me?" Buffy asks, looking at her funny.

Faith shrugs, walking a little faster before turning and facing Buffy. She starts walking backwards as she faces her. "Tell me," she presses.

"You're going to end up walking backwards into something and I'm gonna laugh," Buffy says with a smirk.

"I ain't a kluz."

"Famous last words."

"Just tell me, B. I know you can," Faith says, making sure to pay attention to her surroundings so that she doesn't actually walk into something. She looks at Buffy, watching the slight breeze pick up her blonde hair a little and spill it around her shoulders again. Buffy looks a little shy and it makes Faith try to hide her smile. "Come on," she presses.

Buffy shrugs a little self consciously. "You smell like…" she sighs. "Like leather and…" she mumbles the rest, not looking at her.

"Leather and what?"

"Honey," Buffy mumbles, though a bit louder this time. She flushes again and Faith smirks. "…And a little bit of cinnamon," she finishes, her voice really low now as her face gets even redder.

"What about Willow?" Faith asks, now wondering what everyone else smells like.

"Spearmint…"

"Xander?"

"Kind of like a Christmas tree, or maybe one of those car incense that smell like one?"

Faith laughs a little, then looks over her shoulder and dodges a street lamp before she backs into it. "Giles?"

"Coffee."

"Giles drinks tea," Faith says pointedly.

"Yeah, well he smells like coffee beans," Buffy says with a shrug. "I don't know." She looks around. "Are we going the right way to your house?" she asks, trying to change the subject.

"You mean my motel room? Yeah," Faith says. Then she gets a twinkle in her eye and smirks. "Can you smell yourself?"

"I can't… smell my own specific _scent_, no," Buffy says, but doesn't look at her as she seems a bit embarrassed again. Faith cocks an eyebrow.

"But you can smell other things about you? Or… about other people?" Faith wiggles her eyebrows suggestively; teasing.

"Faith? Conversation over."

Faith chuckles a little, knowing where this is going. "No it ain't," she says with a wicked grin that makes Buffy look a little nervous. "If you can smell bitches on their rag, you gotta be able to smell… other stuff too." She stops in front of Buffy, making her stop too.

"This conversation is making me uncomfortable," Buffy states, like that's gonna stop it from happening. Faith rolls her eyes.

"You really need to get that stick removed."

"I don't have a stick!"

"You have a huge fuckin' stick. Have you_ ever_ gotten laid?" Faith asks incredulously as she looks at the blonde.

"That's none of your business," Buffy says indignantly with a little stomp of her foot before she pushes past her. Faith's eyes go wide.

"No _way!_ Are you fuckin' kidding me? Weren't you with that Scott tool for like two years?" Faith asks surprised as she turns to catch up with her.

"My sex life is none of your business," Buffy snaps.

"You mean your lack of sex life," Faith corrects. Buffy rounds on her, making Faith stop. She glares at her.

"Just because I don't prance around and act like a huge slut like_ some_ people doesn't mean that I don't have a sex life," Buffy retorts.

"No, the fact that your cherry is still intact means you don't have one," Faith snaps back at her. "And for the fuckin' record, Twinkie, I don't sleep with every woman I see."

"You don't know anything about my hypothetical cherry," Buffy says, hands on her hips. "And besides, if what you say is true then why the hell were you all over me in the alley? You don't even_ like_ me and you wanted to sleep with me."

"Oh please. Don't flatter yourself, girlfriend. I'm…" Faith starts, then waves her hand around in the air for a minute to find the word, "Intoxicated. I was just messing with you." No she wasn't, but whatever. But she did have a lot to drink and besides; Buffy responded to it. She was all breathless and pressing up against her. For one second, Faith could feel her let go.

"You could have just said drunk… and no you weren't," Buffy tells her, the last part quietly, like she doesn't even know if she should say anything.

"I'm not drunk, I'm intoxicated. There's a fuckin' difference," Faith says, then points at her. "And _you _were the one eyeing me up to begin with, so don't put this on me. Don't start something you can't finish."

"I wasn't eyeing up anything!" Buffy defends. "Can't I just look at you now without you having to turn it into something sexual? God, Faith!" Buffy stomps again and takes off down the street. Faith growls in frustration and walks after her.

"You're gay."

"I am_ not_ gay!" Buffy practically screams. She looks over at Faith, eyes shooting daggers. "Will you shut up about that?!"

"Yes you are. You wanna know how I know?"

"NO," Buffy says firmly, then stops at crossway of streets. "Which way to your motel?"

"Right," Faith says, and follows after Buffy as she turns down the street. Faith still has a cocky look on her face, "I know cause—"

"Shut _up."_

"—when you were all pressed up against me, your breathing picked up, your pupils got darker _and,_ let's not forget the best part of it – you _let _me do it," Faith says confidently.

"Faith," Buffy says flatly, turning around to face her, making them both stop again. "This may have escaped your notice, but you're a little intimidating."

Faith looks at her skeptically. "Please, you're the Slayer. You could have gotten out of it if you wanted."

"That's not—" Buffy starts, then sighs, exasperated. "That's not what I mean! I mean you… you and _you._ You're all…" she waves her hand a little. "You're like if sex was a human being, all walking around on two legs. It's… well, you know."

"Intimidating?" Faith asks with a smirk as her ego swells double its size. She leans against someone's fence and crosses her arms over her chest, her tongue teasing her bottom lip a little. Damn, and the award for the best compliment ever paid to her goes to…

"Will you _stop?"_ Buffy asks, flustered as she looks at her. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" Faith asks, amused.

"Being all…" she waves her hand again, trying not to look Faith in the eye.

"Sexy?"

"Yes—_NO!_ Intimidating. Damnit, Faith!" Buffy snaps, turning bright red before spinning around and walking away from her. Faith chuckles as she watches Buffy walk away from her. She tilts her head a little as she checks her out.

"You got a nice ass, y'know."

Buffy's hands automatically fly to her ass to cover it from Faith's view before turning around. Faith laughs as she gets up off of the fence and walks over to her. She might have just found a new game to play; this was fun. "Stop hitting on me," Buffy says, flustered.

"I wasn't hitting on you, just sayin' you got a nice ass," Faith says with a smirk as she walks past her. She can see her motel room in the distance. "Don't worry; I don't fuck closet-cases."

Buffy scoffs, "Yeah, cause I _so _got that impression when you were trying to make out with my neck."

"I wasn't fuckin'—" Faith starts, annoyed. But she's interrupted.

"And what about Harmony?" Buffy asks suddenly.

"What?"

"Harmony; she wasn't gay and you had sex with her," Buffy points out.

"Are you trying to make a case about why I shouldn't fuck you or why I should?" Faith asks, confused.

"You're not having sex with me, I'm not having sex with you, there will be NO sex between us," Buffy says firmly. Faith rolls her eyes.

"You keep tellin' yourself that, Twinkie," Faith says with a smirk as she walks onto the motel's property, Buffy following after her, glaring.

"Why do you do this?" Buffy asks, annoyed as they stop outside of Faith's motel room. Faith turns to her with an eyebrow raised and Buffy goes on. "I mean you don't like me, you told me you want us to, I don't know, _hate_ each other, and now you're… you're doing the sexual thing!"

"It's kinda entertaining, not gonna lie," Faith says with a grin. She puts her tongue in her cheek as she looks her over, amused. "You get all flustered and embarrassed."

"Well will you _stop?"_ Buffy pleads. "I don't want to be your entertainment!"

Faith leans against her door, smirking. "Kinda sucks for you then, huh?"

"Faith, I mean it! It's not funny!"

"Faith?" comes another voice that makes Faith's eyes go wide. She turns to see her mother's door opening. "Fai, is that you? I need—" But then Caroline stops as she notices Buffy. "Oh, hello. I'm Caroline; Faith's mother," she says, holding out her hand to Buffy. Buffy takes it with a smile, but not before shooting a glare at Faith.

"Buffy," she introduces herself. Caroline's eyebrows get lost in her hairline.

Oh no.

"Oh, so _you're_ Buffy," Caroline says with a smile and Faith smacks her forehead with her palm and closes her eyes. God damnit. This can't go over well. "Faith has told me so much about you."

"She has?" Buffy asks, confused. She turns to Faith, "You have?"

"_No,_ Mum's just trying to be polite," Faith says, shooting her mother a glare. She folds her arms into herself and narrows her eyes. "Which you can stop anytime now, seriously."

"Faith, don't be rude," Caroline chastises her. Faith's eyes flash but Caroline ignores her, still smiling at Buffy, "You're just as pretty as she said you were." Faith's eyes go just as wide as Buffy's do.

"Mum, will you quit it? I didn't say shit about her being pretty and you know that. Stop trying to—"

"Would you like to come in, dear?" Caroline asks Buffy, ignoring her daughter. Then Faith notices the tone in her voice. _Great, she's super fuckin' high._ This just keeps getting worse and worse.

"Um…" Buffy says, looking over at Faith who's sure she's five shades of red now and getting more pissed off with each passing second. She's gonna kill her mother. Chop her up into little pieces and scatter them all over New Mexico.

"She's gotta go," Faith says, putting her hand on Buffy's arm and trying to steer her away from the catastrophe that's sure to be had if she stays. But Caroline will have none of that.

"Nonsense, it's not late. I'm surprised you're home this early, Fai," Caroline says, opening Faith's door before ushering them both inside. "Now you girls have fun and I'll be back in a second with some drinks," Caroline says, her smile wide as she closes the door to the room and walks into hers.

Buffy and Faith just look at each other for a second.

"Your mother seems… friendly," Buffy says slowly, then looks around the room. Faith glowers. She didn't want Buffy in here, but she knows her mother's room is probably a freaking disaster and that's why she shoved them in this one. Jesus.

"Ignore her. She's trying to get me a girlfriend," Faith says flatly before sitting on her bed heavily. "Feel free to make a run for it."

"I don't want to be rude…" Buffy says slowly, but her eyes flicker towards the door.

"Run while you still can," Faith tells her seriously. But just as Buffy starts to back up towards the front door, the door that connects Faith's room and Caroline's opens and her mother walks through carrying three… shots. _Christ._

See, this is why she doesn't like her mother hanging out with her friends. Not that Buffy's a friend, but still. Most mother's bring out milk and cookies. Her mom? She brings vodka.

"Here you go, dear," Caroline says, smiling as she hands a shocked Buffy a shot. Faith almost laughs at the look on her face, but doesn't. She takes the one her mother hands her and does it without a moment's hesitation. She's gonna need it for this. Caroline looks at her disapprovingly.

"Rude," she says again.

"Whatever. Mum, B's really gotta go, so I think—"

"So Buffy," Caroline says, shooting a glare at Faith before coming back to smile at the blonde who looks incredibly uncomfortable. "Do you go to school with Faith?"

"Yes," Buffy says, her eyes glancing to look over at Faith who's mocking her mother under her breath. At least she was… until Caroline's hand connects with Faith's stomach, making her cough a little. Caroline doesn't stop smiling at Buffy though.

"Do you have any classes together?"

"History," Buffy says, still looking at the shot in her hand like she doesn't know what to make of it.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Mum! Stop with the third degree. Shit," Faith snaps, then looks over at Buffy almost pleadingly, "You gonna do your shot?" She needs more liquor to keep her from strangling her mother.

"Here," Buffy says, handing it to Faith who downs it immediately. Buffy clears her throat a little before answering Caroline's question, "And no… I did, but we broke up a couple weeks ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Caroline says, frowning a little. "A girlfriend?"

Faith chokes on her own breath. "Mum!" she exclaims. "Okay, time to go," she says, pushing her mother off the bed and towards the door.

"But Fai, I was just—"

"Leaving," Faith finishes for her with a pointed look as she guides her mother through the threshold. "Will you _stop _trying to embarrass me? What the hell is wrong with you? How _high _are you right now?" Faith snaps quietly when she's out of earshot from Buffy.

"Sorry for taking an interest in your life, Fai," Caroline snaps. "But I think you could do with having a nice girl like Buffy in your life. She seems very… normal. And she's very pretty," she tells her with a smile.

Faith rolls her eyes. "I'm not looking for a girlfriend, okay? Just… stay out, seriously. And quit doing so much fuckin' coke. You're high as a kite right now and it's not exactly something I want you to show the world," Faith says quietly, angry, then steps away and closes the door before Caroline can say anything else. She turns to Buffy who's just standing there looking even more uncomfortable by the second.

"Sorry," Faith mumbles. "She's just… she's like that."

"It's okay," Buffy says, giving her a shy smile before taking a step back. "I should, um…"

"Go? Probably. She might try to come back," Faith says with a sigh. God, the last thing she needed right now was her mother trying to set her up with a girl she… she…

How _does _she feel about Buffy?

"I'll see you on Monday," Buffy says with a smile as she opens the door. Then she corrects herself, "Well, unless Giles makes us come in for more training tomorrow."

"Probably tomorrow then," Faith says with a smirk. Buffy giggles a little, looking just as embarrassed as Faith's feeling right now about the whole ordeal.

"Bye," Buffy says softly, before walking out the door.

"Later, B."

The door closes behind Buffy and Faith sighs, flopping down on the bed and putting her head in her hands. She wants to try to figure out what the hell is going on; why she's hitting on Buffy, why she makes her pissed off all the time, why the hell she even cared what her mother was saying… but she's too drunk right now.

So instead she passes out, hoping that everything she was feeling tonight was only happening because of the liquor.

**TBC…**


	14. Cleaning Up the Mess

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN  
****Cleaning Up the Mess**

Faith is in a freaking _sundress._

Where the hell her mother found this monstrosity is beyond her, but yesterday she presented it to her with a big smile and the request that she wear it for church this morning. Of course there was the sarcastic comments, the raised eyebrow, and the clear look of distaste on her lips at the sight of it, but after a lot of persuasion and a bit of crying on her Mum's part because of "how important it is that she look nice"… Faith relented.

Tears are Faith's weakness, obviously. It's like cheating. She swears people pass that info around like a freakin' memo or something.

She stands in her bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. The soft green compliments her complexion well, but she still feels like a freak in it. She lets out a breath, sighing a bit as she smoothes out the dress with her hands; it wasn't as clingy as she would have normally liked, even for a dress. She feels like such a _girl _in this thing.

Not that she's butch, cause she's not. Not really. Just cause she knows a thing or two about cars and can kick a lotta ass don't make her the type to shave her head.

Faith runs her fingers through her hair as she turns away from the mirror, figuring this is the closest she's gonna get to lookin' "nice." Walking into her bedroom she looks at the alarm clock, figuring she has about ten minutes before she needs to go check to see if her mother's ready. She collapses on her bed heavily, arms spread as she looks up at the ceiling.

She feels so stupid. For so many damn reasons.

The silence of the room is pierced by the shrill ring of her room phone. She groans and grabs a pillow, putting it over her head and covering her ears. She's _not _answering that.

She's been avoiding Giles' calls since yesterday morning. She knew he wanted her to come in and train with Buffy, but after Friday night that hasn't exactly been high on the list of things she wants to do. Not cause of the drunk innuendos and the little up close and personal they had against the wall. Nah, that shit didn't matter and she's not embarrassed by it. Actually, more points if B's the one embarrassed about it, which she probably will be.

No, why she's avoiding Buffy has nothing to do with that. It has to do with how much of a _mind fuck_ the night ended up giving her.

Faith gets being horny. She was drunk, was filled to the fuckin' brim with adrenaline from the fight and running from the cops. Any sane person in that situation would wanna dry hump the nearest bitch, right? Obviously. It's like human instinct or something. It's a situation that gets your blood pumpin' and your heart racing and the easiest thing to do to calm the storm is to fuck the hell outta someone till you burst. Buffy was just… she just happened to be _there _during all of that.

But that's the problem, isn't it? Buffy being there. She's Buffy _fucking _Summers, the girl who took being a Slayer away from her, the girl who's pretty much taken her Watcher from her too. She's hording in on her friends and pissing her off all the god damn time with her high and mighty attitude and that huge stick up her ass. She shouldn't want to fuck her, even for a minute. She shouldn't be able to just let all of that go just because her pussy needs a fix.

She also really shouldn't have actually _liked _spending time with her that night. Well, until things got awkward with her Mum, anyway.

But she did. Maybe it was cause she was drunk… whatever. Liquor is the world's biggest fucking excuse. Probably also the most bullshit excuse, but since everyone uses it, everyone accepts it when other people give it to them or they give it to themselves. But yeah, right now she'll blame it on the liquor. She'll blame it on the liquor that she noticed how pretty Buffy is when she smiles. She'll blame it on the liquor that she liked the way she could make her blush. She'll blame it on the fuckin' liquor that she had fun tormenting her and she'll _definitely _blame it on the liquor that she noticed how Buffy seemed to like it too.

Yeah, Buffy complained. She didn't want to be picked on for her lack of sexual expertise and her virginal state (fuck she hopes she really isn't a virgin), but she egged her on. She pushed Faith's buttons just as much as Faith pushed hers and she loved every minute of it. Maybe it was some kind of sick game they started playing; fucking with each other just because they could. Pissing each other off cause it was fun to see the other get all riled up about it.

Or maybe that's just Faith. And maybe she's just really fucked in the head that she likes that sort of shit. Either way.

But that's what bothers her. _That._ Not the shit that happened in the alley, the stuff after. It gives her a mind fuck and a half how she found herself being happy when she was bantering with Buffy. _Happy._ How screwed up is that?

Maybe that's supposed to be some sort of sign like 'Hey, lookie here, Faith. You can have some kind of really screwed up friendship with this girl.' Maybe it's something else. She doesn't know. She doesn't wanna know, hence the avoidance.

She shouldn't want to be near a girl who drives her fucking insane. Yet she does. So the plan? Stay as far away as possible. It's probably not gonna work out all that great, what with impending doom and whatever the fuck's about to rain shit on their heads, but it's a good enough plan to start, right? It works for this weekend anyway.

Faith's been trying to clear her head, but it ain't working out so well. Maybe if the stupid fucking phone stopped _ringing_ it might help— fuck, finally it stopped.

"_What's that ringing? Do I have a tumor?"_

Faith snorts a little as she laughs, that line from a movie coming into her head. It's what she feels like sometimes. She's gotta have a fucking tumor if this is where her heads at: all kinds of fucked up. Sometimes she wishes she could get high; just say fuck it and forget about everything and everyone. But then she looks at her mother and knows that's just a cop out. A simple solution to a more complicated problem that's gonna do more hurt than good in the end.

And really, the last thing Faith needs is to end up being a junkie on top of it all. She might not be worth a lot, but she's worth more than that. She has to be.

Fuck Buffy. Fuck Destiny. Fuck the whole Slayer thing right now. She just needs to deal with herself; with her own life. Buffy's just complicating it.

But what else is new?

Faith sighs as she gets off her bed, deciding to go check to see if her mother's ready. She crosses the room to the door and opens it, hoping to just get this whole Catholic thing outta her Mum's system in one go. Cause come on, church is boring as all hell. Or heaven, whatever. Probably shouldn't compare church to hell.

But when she opens the door, church seems to be the last thing on her mother's mind.

"Mum??" Faith asks, worry coloring her voice as she sees Caroline sitting in the middle of her bed, knees to her chest, naked, as she cradles a bottle of scotch closely as she rocks back and forth. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and she doesn't even acknowledge Faith's presence.

"Mum? Hey… Mum?" Faith asks softly as she comes over to her mother, picking up the comforter which was thrown carelessly on the floor and bringing it up to wrap it around her mother's naked body. "Mum… what's wrong?" She tries to reach for the liquor bottle to take it away from her but Caroline makes a sound of disgruntled disapproval and holds it closer to her. Faith's hand falls to rest at her side.

There's silence for a little while before Caroline's teary eyes lock on Faith, and the brunette watches one tear slide down her cheek slowly. "You look beautiful…" she whispers to her, looking at her daughter in the dress she gave her.

"What's wrong?" Faith repeats, her eyes scanning Caroline's for any sign she might recognize. She wasn't high, that's for sure. Drunk, yeah, but not high.

"I was trying to be good for you," Caroline says softly, then shivers and pulls the covers around her body tighter. Her breathing hitches a bit as she tries not to sob, but her bottom lip shakes her voice comes out strangled as she says, "But I can't handle it anymore…" More tears start to fall.

"What are you talkin' about?"

"I need it, Fai. I need it all the time a-and I can't stop. I… I tried to stop and all it did was make the nightmares more real and I can't…! I_ can't_ do this! I-I don't want to be nothing anymore, but that's all I am, I'm _nothing…"_ she cries harder, clutching the liquor close to her before she takes a long swig, coughing a bit as her sobs make it hard to swallow.

"What are you…? Did you…? Oh," Faith says softly, realizing what her mother tried to do. "Mum… how long has it been since you've had any blow?"

Caroline sniffs, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand. "Y-You yelled at me and you didn't want me to meet your girlfriend cause you were ashamed of me cause I was fucked up and I didn't… I mean, I d-didn't…" the rest of her words come out jumbled as she's crying too hard to make much sense anymore.

Shit. She's gone cold turkey for like thirty six hours. That ain't good.

"Mum, I ain't ashamed of ya, I swear," Faith says softly, sighing as she takes her mother's hand and holds it. "I was just fucked up; drunk. And B is… B's not my girl, Mum. So ya didn't get shoved outta some big moment in my life or nothin'. I was just irritated, it wasn't you. I didn't mean that you should stop like this, y'know you can't quit this way."

Caroline just cries harder and Faith looks at her sadly, upset with herself that she made her Mum go and hurt herself like this.

"Where's your stash? The shit I gave you?"

Caroline points a shaky finger into the bathroom and Faith groans. This ain't good. She flushed it. Fuck. Faith takes a breath, realizing she needs to fix this. "Alright, look, lemme go out and meet your dealer, okay? I'll go get ya some more. Promise." Caroline nods slowly, sniffing a little as she pulls the covers up to her chin. Faith lets go of her hand and turns to the bedside table, getting her mother's wallet to get some money out. Once she has it, she looks back at her. "Rest, yeah? I'll be back soon." Caroline nods again, silently, and Faith gets up and makes her way out the door as she shoves a couple twenties in her bra.

This ain't gonna be fun. She hates when she's the one that's gotta go to Larry. He's a nasty little sleazeball who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "jailbait."

But when she opens the door she comes face to face with Buffy, who seems to be standing outside of _her_ door. Faith blinks and closes her mother's door behind her and Buffy turns, looking a bit taken aback from Faith suddenly being next to her.

"Oh, hi," she says quickly, shuffling her feet a little. Faith raises an eyebrow suspiciously, trying to look nonchalant even though her heart started going a million miles an hour. Damnit, obviously avoidance is a bust. Buffy looks at her, eyes sweeping down her form as she takes in the younger girl.

"You look… really nice," Buffy says with surprise, noting her dress.

Faith chooses not to respond to that. Fuck this dress. "What's with the stalking?"

"I wasn't stalking!" Buffy insists, though looks wicked uncomfortable. "I was just… Giles was worried and he told me to—"

"See if I was still alive and kickin'? Well you can tell him I am," Faith interrupts dismissively, turning to walk away from her. But of course Buffy follows her. Faith tries to ignore her, the best she can.

"No, I know, but there's a warrant out for your arrest for assault, Faith. Willow searched their database and Cordelia filed a report that night. We didn't know if the police…" she trails off, and Faith stops short, sighing a bit before she turns to face her.

"Well as you can see, I'm five by five. Now if ya don't mind, I got places to be."

"You shouldn't be walking around when the cops are looking for you," Buffy tells her quietly.

"They ain't lookin' too hard. I'm _home."_

Buffy rolls her eyes, putting a hand on her hip. "Well they don't know where you live. The school has false records and your mother booked you guys under a different name."

"How the fuck do you know that?" Faith asks, getting defensive. She steps in Buffy's personal space, staring her down. She doesn't need this bitch to know her business.

"Willow," Buffy says, like it's obvious. She narrows her eyes at Faith's intrusive behavior but doesn't move forward nor back down. "Look, just lay low for a little while, until we can figure out how to get rid of it."

"Didn't ask you to clean up my messes, Blondie."

"I know that, and it doesn't matter if you ask or not – I am."

"Why?" Faith scoffs, looking at her like she's insane. She crosses her arms across her chest. "What the hell do you get out of it?"

"Oh, I don't know," Buffy snaps sarcastically, obviously getting fed up with Faith's attitude towards her. "Maybe you not in _jail?_ You can't exactly help us out in there."

"Like you give a fuck."

"Obviously I do! Damn, Faith. What's your problem? Why are you so grumpy today?" Buffy asks her, looking at her like she's being a huge bitch. Maybe she is. But whatever.

"Just not in the mood for bullshit pleasantries."

"Yeah, cause this is_ so_ pleasant," Buffy says dryly. Faith just turns away from her, trying to end this unhelpful bit of interaction, but Buffy's hand grabs her arm, sending tingles through her skin. "Wait."

"What?" Faith asks flatly, not turning to look at her.

Buffy doesn't say anything for a minute and that makes Faith finally turn her head to look at her. "You're… you're going to be at school tomorrow, right?"

"Not if the pigs are lookin' for me. You know Queen C will have them on speed dial the moment I show my face."

"I'll take care of it."

"I said I don't need you to fight my battles, B."

"I know, but I… will. Just come to school tomorrow, please?" Buffy asks softly. She still hasn't taken her hand off of Faith's arm and it's making her feel weird so she shrugs her off.

"Yeah, fine. Whatever," she relents, just to get her outta here. She doesn't need her around.

Buffy looks down at the ground for a moment and Faith takes that as her cue to leave. She gets all of about five steps before Buffy calls out to her, "Just be careful."

Faith can feel the tug of her lips as a smile threatens to escapes. She looks over her shoulder. "I'm cool, Twinkie. Grew up in South Boston; ya learn how to avoid the 5-0 pretty quickly." Buffy nods, smiling a little at her shyly. The urge to walk over there and kiss her pretty fuckin' lips hits Faith in the face like a god damn freight train and she turns and walks away from her as quickly as humanly possible.

Fuck. That can't be good. Gotta be some kind of after effect of the liquor; like_ way_ after. Or maybe she's just insane, that could also be a factor. Whatever it is, it ain't good and she really needs to get her head back on straight.

Well, as straight as a lesbian can get, anyway. Ha. Yeah, she amuses herself.

Larry lives a little ways down the street and when she gets there she goes to the backdoor automatically. The little shit for a dog he has barks at her and she flips it off before rapping on the door with her knuckle. She leans against the house as she waits.

A moment later the paranoid bastards asks, "Who dat?"

"Faith."

The door opens and Larry smiles at her with his crooked grin. Faith tries to keep her face neutral as she fights the urge to throw up. The mother fucker is the damn definition of a 'Class A' douchebag. Leering Larry is what she calls him in her head, cause that's all he fuckin' does at her.

"Faith, baby," he says as he throws his arm around her shoulder. "Ya finally here ta take me up on my offer of a good time? Cause it still stands, mama." He fingers a strap on her dress and says, "Diggin' the girly look. Special occasion or ya tryin' to look pretty for me?"

Faith curls up her lip in distaste and she pushes his arm off of her. She wishes people would fuck off about the damn dress. "I ain't here to play games, Double L. I need a gram." She pulls out the money from her cleavage and slaps it down on the counter, keeping her hand on it though as she looks at him expectantly. He just looks at her, amused by being turned down for the millionth time and she cocks and eyebrow. "Like, yesterday," she finishes, trying to stress the importance.

"All business then? S'Cool, brotha's gotta pay the bills," Larry says. Faith tries like hell not to roll her eyes. This dude's picture should be under the word 'wigger' in the dictionary. "But ya holla at me if ya ever need to find yaself ridin' a real man 'stead of whatever the fuck little boys you're pickin' up."

"Yeah. _Boys,"_ Faith says sarcastically. She sighs in annoyance. "Look, ya got it or not? My Mum's freakin' so I'd appreciate it if we could skip tea time and small talk."

"You're a hot thing when you're all riled up, aren't ya?" Larry says with a laugh as he smirks. "Yeah, got what ya need. Hold on a sec, mama." He disappears into the other room and Faith has the urge to take a good long shower after this. His house is disgusting; bastard's probably always too damn high to clean it properly. He should take up meth, at least the place would be spotless then and he'd croak a whole lot sooner.

When Larry comes back he hands her the baggie and she looks at it carefully. She frowns, annoyed. It's clearly lacking in size. "What the fuck is this? You tryin' the jack me now?"

"Nah girl, this shit's eighty five pure. Better than the other crap I was gettin' that was seventy. Trust me; it'll fuck your mom up good an' nice. You can test if ya think I'm pullin' bullshit."

"You know I don't touch this shit," Faith says flatly, but she stuffs it in her bra and slides the money towards him. "But if you're sellin' me crap then you best believe I'll come back and put your fuckin' head in the wall."

"Chill mamacita, would I fuck over one of my best customers?"

Faith arches an eyebrow at him, but steps away. "We'll see," is all she says before she turns towards the door.

"Come back anytime, sexy," he says with a hint of a leer in his voice and she knows he's checking out her ass as she walks out the door. She flips him off over her shoulder and she can hear his low chuckle as she leaves, the door banging lightly behind her. The stupid dog starts barking up a storm again and she kicks at it, not connecting, but makin' the damn thing back the hell off before she walks back down the street.

She doesn't get to be Faith the Vampire Slayer; she gets to be Faith the Drug Runner.

_Fuck _she hates her life.

**TBC…**


	15. Super Creeptastic Stalker Boy

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN  
****Super Creeptastic Stalker Boy**

The first thing Faith did when she got to school was stroll through the library doors, figuring she might as well get Giles lecture about duty and destiny over with. She knows it was wrong to ignore him, but she had a reason, damnit. Not like that one worked out very well either though with Buffy showing up at her freakin' _door._

Sometimes she doesn't know why she tries. Seriously.

"Ah, Faith," Giles says noticing her arrival. He hurriedly put away some books he was leafing through to give her his attention. "I—"

Faith puts up her hand. "I know, I know. Duty and destiny. I shoulda been here, I'm a fuck up, I got it."

"What?" Giles asks, confused for a moment. He blinks. "Oh, yes, quite right. Not to you being a… well, I was regarding that you weren't here. But I do understand why you chose not to show."

Faith blinks. "You do?"

Giles sighs a little, taking off his glasses to clean them with a handkerchief. "Faith, I must apologize for my behavior lately. I know it may seem that I've been favoring Buffy over you because she is the Slayer, but that isn't true."

Faith just stares at him.

"I've been thoughtless towards your feelings in all of this. I know you have the utmost desire to become Chosen and Buffy being around can't be easy for you." He replaces his glasses, giving her a small smile before he puts a hand on her shoulder. "But I am very proud of you, Faith. You are a very strong willed young woman and you have been dealing with this situation a lot better than I would have expected. If you do become the Slayer one day, I dare say that the Powers would have chosen very wisely."

To say Faith is surprised would be the understatement of the century. She's shocked like hell, but it makes her feel good and she smiles big. "Thanks, G."

Faith never actually realized how much she needed to hear him say that until right then. Yeah, she's been a moody bitch for the last couple of days, she's had a lot of shit she's had to deal with, but most of it has been aimed at Buffy, or hell, just _about _Buffy. It's really fuckin' annoying how so quickly Faith's life seems to revolve around one small, annoying, sexy, irritating little blonde.

Yeah, she realizes the word sexy slipped in there. Whatever.

Point? She's been so fucked up over Buffy and how angry she's been making her that she didn't even realize that Giles was pissing her off too, mainly because it's been about how he's been with Buffy and, well, when you throw Buffy in the mix it's apparently all that she can focus on.

There should be medication for this type of problem.

"That's so romantic," Willow says wistfully as she comes into the library with Buffy. She's got this far away dreamy look in her eye and Buffy's smiling shyly. It makes Faith's eyebrow arch up and not in the curious way.

"I dunno Will, I mean he—" then she stops as she takes one look at Faith and falls silent.

"No no, B. Don't stop on account of me. Let's all hear about your new Mr. Wonderful," Faith says, annoyance in her voice for a reason she probably doesn't want to analyze. Buffy blushes and mumbles something to the floor.

"Since this conversation doesn't pertain to me, I'm going to—" Giles starts, but is interrupted by Willow.

"Buffy met some guy in the graveyard last night, a-all dark and mysterious and heroic," Willow tells Faith, her mind clearly off in some lame romantic movie scenario.

"There was a man out while you were patrolling?" Giles asks Buffy, obviously now including himself in the conversation.

"He… well, I mean, I was fighting these three vampires last night and everything was good. I was kicking butt, they were going poof, but then one of them got the upper hand and—"

"And all of a sudden this big, handsome man comes out of nowhere and saves her!" Willow interrupts, excited.

"I wouldn't say 'saved me'," Buffy says, a little too defensively. "I totally had it under control. He just… helped out when one vampire got a little too up close and personal with my neck."

"Buffy, who was this man?" Giles asks, sounding concerned.

Buffy looks annoyed. "Thank you, Giles. I'm fine," she says sarcastically.

Giles looks flustered. "Sorry. You're… alright?"

"As much as can be expected. I have a couple cracked ribs though. I think that merits a cookie, don't you?" Buffy asks with a smirk.

"I could wrap your ribs if—"

"When I got injured Merrick used to give me cookies to make me feel better," Buffy says with a pout, but the tone in her voice is all bullshit and she looks amused. Her super healing has already kicked in and she obviously can barely feel them anymore. Giles sighs.

"Yeah G, I think we should get cookies when we get our ass kicked," Faith says, smirking at how frustrated Giles is getting by the sarcastic comments.

"Since your ribs don't seem to be in any kind of deliberating condition… the man?" Giles asks, trying to switch the subject. "Are you saying he is aware of the supernatural occurrences that go on at night in Sunnydale?"

"Well he wasn't wigged by the vamps in dire need of a facial, no."

"Did he say anything?"

Buffy shrugs, leaning against the counter next to Faith. Faith tries not to look at her. "I said thanks, asked him who he was. He said it wasn't important and that I should be more careful. I can't believe he had the nerve to lecture me after he was the one being all super creeptastic stalker boy."

"Yeah, sounds real romantic, B. Wish I had a stalker," Faith says dryly. Buffy looks over at her before rolling her eyes a little bit.

"Willow was the one who said it was romantic."

"I-It is! Don't you think it is, Faith? I mean he's all dark and mysterious, coming out only in times to save the pretty girl from the monsters…" she's doing the whole dreamy faraway look again.

"I'm a dyke, Red. Ain't lookin' for no prince to come save my ass, that's for damn sure."

Willow gives her a disapproving look at her vile choice of word regarding her sexuality.

"Hey! So totally wasn't in need of saving here! And it was only once. And yes he may be… dark and mysterious and very… attractive, but missing the big picture here: he knew my name," Buffy says.

"He knew your name?" Giles says, sounding alarmed.

"Another point in the stalker column," Faith states.

The library doors open again and Xander strolls in, looking at the four of them. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?" he asks, seeing the mixed looks on all of their faces.

"B's got herself a stalker."

Xander's eyes go wide.

"He's not my—!" Buffy starts to protest, but finishes with, "Ugh. Whatever. Besides, he said I'd probably never see him again anyway."

"Yeah, cause he's hiding out in the bushes behind your house lookin' through your bedroom window while he jacks himself off."

"Ew!" Buffy exclaims in horror and slaps Faith's arm. Hard.

"OW! Fuck, B!"

"Sorry." She doesn't sound very sorry, so Faith turns around and punches her in the arm. Buffy barely even flinches, but she does glare at her.

"Girls, please," Giles says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Buffy, it concerns me that there is an unknown man out there that not only knows your name but also knows of the on goings in Sunnydale at night."

"He didn't give me the wiggins though," Buffy tells him. "I mean, I can kind of feel when people or things are… bad."

"You can? You never told me that. I need to write that down later. Will you stay after class and explain it to me in depth?" Giles asks, going into geek mode as he gets his diary or whatever the hell it is. Buffy sighs, knowing she opened the door to that mess.

"Sure," she says, defeated. "Why not? I don't have a life."

"So let me get this straight…" Xander starts, looking at Buffy. "Some guy knows your name, knows about demons, and is hiding under out behind your bushes and you don't think that screams restraining order?"

"Oh! Oh my god!" Willow exclaims, starting everyone. "Faith! Cordelia! What are you—"

"Faith's fine, Cordelia dropped the charges, and Xander he isn't hiding out behind my house!" Buffy exclaims, annoyed.

"That you know of," Faith says with a smirk. It warrants another slap to her arm to which Faith retaliates with another punch, making her forget about asking Buffy how she knows that Cordelia dropped them, and why. "Fuck, if you bruised me I'm going to kill you."

"Hey, I slapped you and you _punched_ me!" Buffy defends.

"You're stronger than I am!"

"Girls!" Giles exclaims. "Please stop. And Faith, what is this about charges being filed against you?" He sounds angry, in that disappointed father type tone that Faith hates. She promptly looks at the ground and mumbles something to her shoes.

"Translation: Faith assaulted Cordelia at the Bronze on Friday," Buffy says. Faith looks up and shoots her a glare.

"What are you, aiming for fuckin' brownie points now?"

"Faith!" Giles exclaims, even angrier now. "We've talked about this! Violence isn't the answer to everything. That was a terribly reckless thing for you to do. There are more important things at stake now than your teenage ego." Faith looks embarrassed. She hates when he lectures her, especially in front of everyone.

"That's what I said," Buffy says, with a little 'ha' look on her face. Faith looks at her dangerously.

"You're fuckin' askin' for it, Blondie."

"What are you going to do?" Buffy says, amused by her threat.

"Buffy, stop taunting Faith. You know she has anger issues and we have _also _already discussed you fueling them. I would appreciate if you, _both_ of you, could be more mature," Giles says. Now Buffy looks embarrassed for being lectured too. Faith looks amused that for once she isn't taking all the heat.

"Ohhh, someone's in trouble," Xander taunts under his breath, amused, and both Buffy and Faith shoot him a look that could kill and he falls silent, stepping back behind Willow for protection.

Willow rolls her eyes and shoves him lightly.

"Moving on," Giles says, looking at them all like he was daring for any one of them to start acting out again. "This man… he didn't tell you his name, correct?"

"Nope. He just kinda swooped in, helped make the bumps in the night become less bumpy, was all 'man of few words', then left."

"Well, keep an eye out for him, will you? He may be a white hat but he could also be something else, and that's what concerns me."

"Like a pimple?" Xander asks, confused.

"White _hat _not white _head,"_ Willow explains. "M-Meaning he could be one of the good guys."

"Oh."

Faith snickers. Giles looks at Xander like he should study more.

"Right. Anyway, girls, after school today we'll be training with the crossbow. And Faith, this time, please try not to impale my bookshelves."

Buffy laughs and Faith throws her a look. "Hey, some of us don't come equipped with freakishly good aim."

"Be that as it may, I know once you set your mind to something you can accomplish it," Giles tells her. "I am also hoping that you can learn these feats quickly, seeing as I would like to take you out slaying with Buffy one night."

Faith's eyes go wide and she gets excited. "Really?!"

"Yes, really. Though you are not a Slayer, I think it would be wise to prepare you in battle, and with Buffy and I there to help I think it would be much safer than if you had to learn on a whim under surprise circumstances," Giles tells her.

"Maybe you can stake your first vampire," Buffy says with a smile, suddenly warming up to her. That's one thing Faith doesn't get about Buffy. They can be bickering one minute and the next she's all… wanting to be friend-type whatever girl.

Faith idly remembers when she was trying to convince Buffy that hating each other would be better. Obviously that plan got shot to hell and back.

"Hey, I've staked one already," Faith defends. "The one that freaked _you _out wicked bad when you were still a Slayer wannabe, actually."

"How do you know about that?" Buffy asks, horrified. Then she rounds on Giles accusingly, pointing. "How does she know about that?"

The bell rings.

"Ah, the bell," Giles says, avoiding the question as he busies himself. "You all should be off to class."

Faith was about to say something like 'saved by the bell', but realizes how cheesy that sounds before she opened her mouth, thankfully.

* * *

"Faith!"

"I got it!" Faith yells back, trying to fend off the vampire who has her back pressed against a tombstone, leaning over it as his fangs are descending towards her neck. She pushes him off of her, gets in one good punch, but ends up back where she started as he launches at her again. She can feel his fangs brush her neck and she fights with all her strength to put some distance between them but she's slowly losing the battle. "I don't got it!" she screams.

"Buffy!" Giles calls out.

Buffy quickly stakes her vampire and turns to the one that's got Faith almost seeing her life flash before her eyes (fuck that's a depressing sight) and within a second all that's left of the snarling monster is dust in the wind. Buffy's standing over her, stake in her hand, looking really worried, maybe almost scared.

"Jeez, B, who died? Lighten up," Faith says, coughing a bit at the fragments of vamp dust in the air as she gets herself off of the tomb. But Buffy's face is masked in anger now and she pushes her back.

"_Don't_ tell me you 'got it' when you don't! You could have been killed!"

"Hey!" Faith exclaims, furious at being pushed, but Giles stops her from retaliating by stepping between them.

"Alright, I think that's enough for one night…" he tries, but Faith is still pissed that she got shoved.

"What the fuck is your problem, B?!"

"You're my problem! Do you have some sort of death wish?!"

"Girls!" Giles exclaims, exasperated. "Please. Buffy, calm down, Faith wasn't hurt. And Faith, Buffy's right, you were careless. You became cocky once you found that you had the upper hand and it prevented you from noticing the rock that you so gracefully stumbled over." He narrows his eyes at her.

It had been two weeks since the Giles brought up training Faith in the field, and tonight was her first night out. Everything seemed to be going well – she staked one vamp with Buffy's help, another without, and damn, one mishap and people gotta jump all over her ass? There shouldn't be random rocks jutting out all over the place in a damn cemetery anyway. Aren't there caretakers for that sort of crap?

"I can't do this, Giles. I can't have her out here with me when I'm patrolling. I can't be do my job if I'm _worrying _about her!"

"Fuck you, Blondie. Waste your worry on someone else. I got this."

Buffy scoffs. "Yeah, because you looked like you 'got it' when you were about to become a tasty midnight snack."

Faith leers at her, just to make her uncomfortable. "Bet you'd love to know how I taste, wouldn't you?" Buffy flushes beat red.

Embarrassing Buffy has been Faith's new favorite game these last couple of weeks. She figures that way she can get out her sexual attraction to her without resorting to screwing everything up by trying to fuck her.

Yeah, she can admit now that she's sexually attracted to Buffy. Liquor may have played a role in everything that one night, but if Buffy was busted lookin' then it wouldn't have happened in the first place no matter how much she drank. So yeah, she can admit she's hot and yeah she can admit that a sexual scenario involving her wouldn't exactly be the worst thing in the world. Not that she has any plans to do any of that though, hence trying to get out her attraction in different ways.

Plus, embarrassing her is just fun.

"Faith, that was… inappropriate," Giles stutters.

Oh, right, Giles is here too.

"Habit," Faith mumbles as a response. And it is; her responses have become almost second nature now.

Giles clears his throat and adjusts his glasses in that way he always does when he's uncomfortable and tries to change the subject. "Buffy, Faith needs to learn how to operate in the field. You also need to learn how to operate when there is someone's life in danger other than your own."

Buffy just folds her arms into herself, but she says nothing.

"We'll try this again tomorrow night," Giles tells them. "In the meantime, Faith, please practice those exercises I taught you to become more aware of your surroundings and Buffy, I'm not sure if you were attempting Uchi Uke or Soto Uke but regardless, both need work."

"I thought it was the… the… Gretchen? No, Genten? Goodan!… Balai," Buffy says, sounding confused and pulling the biggest 'dumb blonde' look Faith thinks she's ever seen her have. Worst part? Buffy's completely serious. Giles sighs.

"In that case, a lot of work."

Buffy huffs and rolls her eyes. "I should get points for just remembering the name."

"It was the Geden Barai," Giles says flatly.

"Oh. Oops."

Faith snickers and Buffy slaps her on the arm, which makes Faith retaliate with a punch. It seems to be a ritual of some kind now. Giles has learned to ignore it.

"Well," he says, looking at Faith as she rubs her shoulder where Buffy hit, scowling. "Would you both like a ride home?"

"Nah, I'm like five minutes from here. I'll walk," Faith tells him. Walking is good for her; gives her time to clear her head and center herself and all that weird yoga crap Giles spews on about. She might mock it, but it does do her some good, regardless.

"I'll walk you home!" Buffy exclaims, _way_ too enthusiastically, which she seems to be aware of when she flushes. Faith cocks an eyebrow.

"What, you hopin' to walk me to my door and get a goodnight kiss, Twinkie?" Faith asks with a smirk. Buffy flushes an even deeper red and says:

"No, I was just… I mean it's night and you can't walk by yourself. It's not safe…"

"Think I can handle five minutes on my own, B."

"No, Buffy's right, Faith," Giles says, looking at her pointedly. "If you'd like to walk I would prefer it if you had company."

"Well I'd prefer if I didn't."

"Faith," Giles says flatly, the tone indicating he's not to be argued with. Faith rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. _Fine."_

It's been like this for the last two weeks – Buffy trying to spend some time with her. At first Faith didn't get it, but now she's starting to realize that maybe Buffy has some kind of crush on her.

Yeah, seriously. It fucked with her head too and she's used to people falling all over themselves around her. She just didn't think one of them would be Buffy.

Which, while normally that wouldn't be an issue – she'd fuck the bitch, fun would be had by all, then she'd kick her out the next morning – the thing is, A) Buffy still hasn't admitted she's gay yet, is still outright denying it, actually, and B) Faith can't exactly get some, get gone with her.

Buffy thinks she's just trying to be a friend, Faith gets that, and because of that that it's just too damn complicated. They still fight all the time, and it still weirds Faith out that she kinda likes it. Really likes it, actually. It's screwed up. There's just too many fuckin' weird feelings involving Buffy and Faith would rather let it be than try to dissect something she can't handle.

Faith doesn't date. She just doesn't. And that's all Buffy is; she's relationship girl. Not that she'd even admit that she wants one with Faith to begin with though. But all of this? It's like out of a freakin' movie. Buffy has all the big neon, flashing sign of "smitten" over her head. Faith's seen it before but this is the first time she's trying to push the smitten person away just because, for so many fuckin' reasons, sleeping with Buffy would not be smart.

Not that every inch of her body isn't screaming for her to do it though.

But Buffy would get attached if she did that; Faith knows it. She doesn't want the attachment and she definitely doesn't need it. She can't fuck her then ignore her. She has to see this girl every single day, has to train with her every single day and it's just… really not worth all the headaches just for an orgasm.

Besides, to even get to that point Buffy would have to admit to herself that she's gay and that doesn't look like it's gonna be happening any time soon.

Giles says goodnight and leaves the two of them alone. They just look at each other for moment. Buffy's still blushing a little bit and Faith is starting to find it endearing so she decides now would be the time to turn around and start heading towards her motel room without a word. Buffy follows for a little while in silence; the two of them just walking side by side.

Finally Buffy says quietly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"S'Fine."

"I was just scared. I can't… I mean I can't have anyone else… die. It's just…" she looks away and folds her arms into herself, distress on her face as she thinks about how she lost Merrick. It still haunts her, Faith can see that, and it's why she lets it go.

"I get it."

Buffy nods a little, looking at the ground for a minute before her gaze comes back up to land on Faith's profile. Faith doesn't look at her or say anything for a little bit. But then she asks, "Why did Cordelia drop the charges, B?" It's asked quietly… and like she already knows the answer. Cordelia hasn't so much as glanced at Faith since then and every time she sees her with Buffy she high tails it the other way.

"I…" Buffy starts, then falls silent, looking embarrassed again. "She just… did."

"And you had nothin' to do with that?" Faith asks her, again like she already knows the answer.

"I… may have helped her come to that decision," Buffy admits quietly, then shrugs, looking self conscious. "Why does it matter? That was weeks ago."

"Just wonderin' what you said to make her scared like hell of ya," Faith asks with a smirk. She looks at Buffy and the blonde looks back at her shyly, giggling a little.

"Nothing, I swear."

"So it was a physical demonstration then?" Faith asks, her smirk widening. Buffy looks a little guilty, but a little proud of herself too. She shrugs noncommittally.

"It was weeks ago," she repeats.

"So you said."

They come to the motel room and stop outside of Faith's door, both girls looking at each other like they don't know what comes next. "It was… I mean I just… I didn't want you to…" Buffy stutters, trying to find the words.

"You were lookin' out," Faith answers for her.

"Yeah," she says quietly.

"Told ya I didn't need ya to fight my battles."

"I know… but I just…"

Buffy looks so embarrassed, but so fuckin'… damnit, she hates using this word but she's gonna say it: cute. It makes Faith smile a little, but only a little. She nudges her softly with her shoulder. "Don't do it again," she tells her, but it's not threatening or mean, just… soft.

"Promise," Buffy says, looking up at her, and somehow her eyelashes looked a whole lot thicker and making her eyes look so much more… vulnerable. Faith feels the butterflies run rampant through her stomach and they both just look at each other for a little while. Buffy's breathing has changed slightly from being in such close proximity to Faith. Faith knows she needs to move… _now._

She can't move.

"I guess I should…" Buffy starts quietly, indicating leaving. She doesn't move for a minute though. Faith nods though, finally, and Buffy swallows a little before turning to leave.

Then Faith does something stupid.

"Buffy," she calls out softly. Buffy turns around to face Faith and she reaches out for the Slayer, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards her. Faith's lips meet Buffy's without a moment for either of them to really think, igniting sparks right through her every inch of her body. Buffy's eyes go wide at first from the shock of Faith just kissing her like that, but she quickly melts into her, the grip that she has on Faith's hand tightening just a little bit. It isn't anything big, grand, or even fuckin' sexy for that matter. It was just a soft kiss, pretty chaste, and Faith ended it as quickly as it started once she got her head back on her shoulders.

"Owed you a goodnight kiss," Faith says with a smirk as she pulled away, trying like hell to not make it into a big deal and show how uncomfortable she is right now. Why the fuck did she just _do_ that? Way to lead a bitch on, moron.

"I-I, uh…" Buffy stutters, lost for words. Faith takes that as her cue to leave.

"See ya tomorrow," Faith says, backing up probably much too quickly towards her door, going into her motel room and leaving Buffy still standing there, stuttering, still trying to find words. Faith closes the door and leans against it, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

What the hell did she just _do?_

**TBC…**


	16. Almost is Never Enough

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN  
****Almost is Never Enough**

Faith has gone over it and over it in her head for the past week, but she still can't figure out why, for the fuckin' life of her, she kissed _Buffy._

And it wasn't even like she made out with her. That she'd understand more than what did happen. She can write making out with someone off on her overactive hormones. No, instead she kissed her like… like… like what? Like she mattered or something, outside of just… sex.

Not that Buffy matters _with_ sex; she's decided she can never go there but that still doesn't change how much of a mind fuck it was for her… and for Buffy.

They've barely looked at each other all week.

They both have been trying to act normal, like nothing happened. They're still bantering and fighting and whatever the hell else they do but they can't keep eye contact for more than a few seconds before it starts to get awkward.

Well, until they got drunk, which is where they're at right now.

Another night at the Bronze; Faith, Buffy, Willow and Xander are hanging out on the couches, getting drunk and having fun. Buffy and Faith are sitting on opposite couches which has been something they've been doing since the… incident. Buffy used to be all over her, used to always try to find an excuse to be near her in some way but ever since then she's been trying like hell to get some distance between them. Faith doesn't blame her and in all honesty is glad for the space.

She's replayed the night over and over in her mind and she still can't figure out what made her pull Buffy back to her. She knows it was a feeling but she's not sure which one or what it even meant; she just knew she wanted to kiss her and so she did.

One of the top ten stupidest things she's ever done, that's for sure.

The liquor seems to be making the space become smaller and smaller though, because with each passing drink they seem to be warming up to each other again. First it was the staring, there was a lot of staring involved on both parts. Buffy was wearing this short, plaid purple dress with her hair pinned up and she looked fuckin' beautiful. Her legs seemed to go for miles and Faith couldn't help herself from looking.

Faith, like always, looked halfway between a biker and a stripper and Buffy's eyes kept fixing on her cleavage which was spilling out of her shirt. Faith caught her looking at one point and smirked at her, making Buffy blush. She didn't look away though; she looked her right in the eyes and smiled a little. _That's _how Faith knows it's the liquor. Sober, even without all the awkwardness, Buffy would have looked away and pretended it never happened.

"Faith? Faith? Earth to Faith," Xander says, interrupting her checking Buffy out with a wave of his hand in front of her eyes. She scowls and slaps it away and he laughs. "You alive in there?"

"Do I look like I'm alive?" Faith retorts, tearing her gaze away from Buffy to look at her friend.

"Well you do look a little flushed," he says and smirks. She narrows her eyes and smacks his leg… hard.

"Ow!"

Buffy giggles.

"Faith, stop abusing Xander," Willow mockingly scolds her. Faith smirks as Xander rubs his leg like he's been fatally wounded and she turns to Willow.

"Why, is that your job?"

"I would _never,"_ she responds, mockingly serious. A little smile peeks out though and Faith laughs.

"Lies, all lies," Xander responds. He keeps rubbing his leg. "Ow, Faith. You need to stop eating your vegetables."

"I don't eat vegetables."

"Then you just need to stop eating. Cause _ow."_

"Stop bein' a pussy, it wasn't _that _hard," Faith says with an eye roll as she picks up her drink, sipping on it as she leans back on the couch and props her feet up on the coffee table.

"I think you broke me."

Willow sighs, but seems amused. She gets up, holding out her hand to Xander. "Come on; let's go see if the bartender has an icepack." Xander takes her hand and lets her help him up and he hobbles for effect. Faith rolls her eyes again but laughs a little.

"Thank you, Willow," he says, then shoots Faith a look. "At least _someone _cares." He smirks though and she flips him off. She can hear him still chuckling as the two of them make their way over to the bar.

Man, he's a piece of work, that's for sure.

Faith suddenly feels weight on the couch next to her and she turns, looking back to see Buffy sitting next to her now. Faith smirks a little and situates herself on the couch so she's facing Buffy, curling one leg in towards herself as she props her head up by leaning her elbow on the back of the couch, letting her hair spill down nicely around her shoulders. "How may I service you today?" she asks with a smirk.

Yeah, she's a little drunk. But she didn't really think that Buffy would come over to her, so she's getting back some control in a situation that feels a bit out of her control. Even drunk, things were still weird. Or at least they were supposed to be.

Buffy giggles a little, looking down before her eyes flicker back up and connect with hers. She bites on her lower lip softly. "I think I'm drunk," she tells her in a whisper, like it's some grand secret.

"Gettin' that," Faith says, amused.

"But… because I'm drunk, I think I want to ask you something," she goes on, and her eyes look down and she picks at the small space between them on couch a little.

"You think, huh?" Faith teases, watching her become shy all of a sudden. It makes her smile, despite herself. But she's afraid Buffy's going to ask her about the kiss finally, so she doesn't tell her to go ahead.

Not that Buffy needed the go ahead.

"When…" she starts, looking self conscious all of a sudden. She takes a breath and looks up at her again, moving in a little closer, but enough for the position to become a little more intimate. "When you… came out… what was it like?"

Faith blinks. She wasn't expecting that. "When I came outta the closet?"

"Yeah."

Faith shrugs a little. "I dunno." Buffy gives her a look and Faith sighs. "I guess it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was gonna be. Everyone always talks about how people fuckin' hate you and shit, but that didn't happen for me. My Mum was supportive and that's all I really gave a shit about." Buffy nods a little, making little patterns on the couch with her finger. "Why?" Faith asks softly.

She knows why, but she's still asking.

"I was just… curious," Buffy avoids, not looking at her. She takes a breath and picks at the couch some more. "How did you know you were… you know."

"A lesbian?" Faith asks, filling in the blanks for her.

"Yeah."

"It's just something you know, I can't explain it. I just knew I liked chicks," Faith tells her. She runs her fingers through her hair and she can see Willow and Xander start to walk towards them out of her peripheral vision. But they stop, looking at the two of them and Willow smiles a little before taking Xander's arm and leading him away.

Faith's not sure if she's glad for it or pissed that they aren't interrupting whatever this is.

Buffy doesn't seem to notice them though; she's still staring at the couch. There's silence for a little while before she looks up at her again and it makes Faith very aware of the lack of space between the two of them. "Why did you kiss me?" she asks softly.

Cue brain screeching to a halt.

"It didn't mean nothin'," Faith says quickly; the first thing she can think of.

"It didn't?" Faith can't tell if Buffy is glad or upset by that.

"Nah, Twinkie. I didn't stick my tongue down your throat, did I? That woulda meant something," Faith says, smirking. She feels wicked uncomfortable though and she thinks it's starting to show. She goes to move away from her on the couch, just get some space between them, but Buffy grabs her arm, stilling her.

"Kiss me again," she requests suddenly.

Whoa. What?

"What?" Faith asks, pretty sure she didn't hear her right. She must be drunker than she thought… or Buffy's drunker than she thought.

Buffy licks her lips nervously, obviously the first request coming out easier than her trying to repeat it. "You didn't… kiss me properly last time," she tries, looking a little scared of what she's doing and how Faith's going to react to it.

Faith blinks, her hear starting to pound in her chest so damn loud that she can barely hear the music anymore. "There's a proper way to kiss you now?" Faith asks, hoping how nervous she sounds isn't showing in her voice. She's never been nervous around another woman in her life before Buffy and it's… fucked up.

"I just… I need to see if…" Buffy tries, but starts to get really embarrassed and she sighs, taking her hand off of Faith. "Nevermind," she mumbles, her face turning bright red and looking a little dejected.

"…B, we're drunk," Faith tells her. "This ain't a good idea. You know that, right?"

"Yes," Buffy mumbles. She won't look at her now and Faith hates that. Shit, she hates liquor. All it does is tear her fuckin' walls down and leaves her… this. She wants to kiss her, so fucking badly she can barely stand it and she knows that's gonna fuck with her head later whether she actually does or not.

"I mean, you're sexy and everything, but it's just a bad idea. I don't go half on anything," Faith tries. She needs her to get that if she kisses her she might not be able to stop. She's drunk and she's already horny and she knows Buffy ain't ready for all that. Buffy smiles a little, finally looking at her.

"You think I'm sexy?" she asks softly.

"I got eyes," Faith answers honestly. Buffy purses her lips together and then smiles again, looking down. Alright, Faith made her happy, job well done. Now maybe they can forget about the whole kiss thing and hopefully never bring it up again.

They're both quiet for a little while before Buffy takes Faith's hand in hers. "Come to the bathroom with me?" she requests. Faith raises an eyebrow at her.

"Why?"

"Because girls go to the bathroom in pairs, silly," she says with a smile as she gets up, tugging Faith to stand up next to her. "Come on."

Faith relents, though only because Buffy's holding onto her hand in a death grip like she's afraid Faith's going to let go while she pulls her over to the bathroom. They walk inside just as two girls walk out. Buffy pulls her over to the mirror and grabs her purse, digging through it. Faith still doesn't get why she's here as she watches Buffy put on some cherry lip gloss.

"B, as fun as this is…" Faith tries, attempting to get away but Buffy grabs her hand and pulls her back to her, keeping her there. She turns so her back is against the sink and she pulls Faith over to stand in front of her, almost pressed against her. She doesn't let go of her hand.

"Can we make a deal?" she asks her.

Faith is hyperaware of Buffy's body pressed against hers and all she can think about is throwing Buffy into one of the stalls and fucking the hell out of her. "Deal?" she asks, distracted.

Fucking liquor.

"Yeah…" Buffy starts, quietly. "I mean like… anything that happens tonight we can just… pretend it never happened." She tightens her grip on Faith's hand, not wanting her to leave.

Faith doesn't like where this conversation is going. Or maybe she really likes it. Fuck, she's confused.

"B…"

"I'm drunk and… and I think I should… try something. I mean I'm confused and I know tomorrow I'll freak out but I can blame the alcohol and you can blame me and we can never speak about it again," she says quickly.

"Buffy, I don't…"

But the bathroom door opens and a couple more girls come inside and Buffy lets go of Faith's hand quickly, looking embarrassed. She steps away from her and looks at herself in the mirror, pretending to be busy fixing her hair. Yeah, see, and this is why it's bad idea. Little Ms Closet Case is still freaking, drunk or not.

But Buffy turns and walks into one of the stalls. Faith can see her reflection in the mirror and she pauses, looking out for anyone that could see. When she knows Faith is the only one who can see her, she motions for her to go in there with her.

This is such a bad idea.

Faith shakes her head no, warning her, but Buffy doesn't listen. She's drunk and in her own little world and she does the one thing she knows is gonna make Faith bolt right over there: she licks her bottom lip seductively and runs her hand up her thigh, hiking her dress up so much that one more inch she'd be able to see her panties.

Oh, fuck this. This isn't fair.

Faith turns around quickly, finding herself in the stall with Buffy in a blink of an eye. The door bangs closed behind them and Faith locks it before she presses Buffy up against the wall, making the older girl gasp softly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Faith demands softly, suddenly finding her hand sliding up Buffy's exposed thigh. Buffy seems to have trouble breathing but she wraps her arms around Faith and pulls her closer to her.

"I don't know," she tells her breathlessly, honestly. Their lips are too damn close to each other and Faith knows everything is about to fuckin' explode in her face but she can't move away from her. "But I need you to… I need you to kiss me like you mean it…."

"I'm not gonna be able to stop," Faith warns her, the desire running beneath her skin like fire already. She's trying to control it but obviously she isn't doing such a bang up job, what with their current position and everything.

"I'll stop you," she promises.

"That's fucked up." That's a whole box of fucked up, actually.

"Please Faith…" Buffy begs softly, leaning her head in more so that if one of them moves even a fraction of an inch their lips will be touching. Faith can feel Buffy's short, hot bursts of breath against her sensitive flesh and it's driving her insane with lust. She's not gonna be able to hold out much longer and Buffy can see that.

"We shouldn't," Faith tries, one last time. One last feeble fucking attempt that she knows is pointless by this point. Her fingers are trailing up the back of Buffy's thigh and the Slayer's breath hitches in her throat as she brushes her lips over Faith's, making the younger girl close her eyes and have the biggest battle of wills she thinks she's ever had in her life.

She wants to kiss her so bad, wants to_ fuck_ her so bad but there's still the logical part of her that knows it would be fucking stupid.

"You make me feel things," Buffy breathes out against her lips as her hands slide up Faith's chest (which makes Faith slam her hand against the wall to control herself) and up further until they're tangled in her hair. She's gonna lose it in five… "Every time you look at me it feels like I'm on fire," Buffy tells her quietly.

Four.

"I'm not gay," Buffy continues softly, but runs her fingers down over her neck.

Three.

"But I still want to… I need to see if…" She's breathing heavily against her lips now and Faith swears her brain is about to implode.

Two.

"Faith I… I think I need you to touch me…"

'One' explodes in her face from_ that_ sentence.

"Faith? Buffy?"

Oh fucking_ hell!_

Buffy's eyes go wide and she pushes Faith off of her, putting some much needed space between them at the sound of Willow's voice.

"Yeah, Red?" Faith asks, trying to keep her voice even and her breathing under control. Buffy looks like she's about to burst from the sexual tension and Faith's right along with her.

"Is Buffy in there with you?"

Buffy's eyes go wide and she moves her hands to signal no. Faith smirks and says, "Yeah." Buffy slaps her arm hard and Faith winces. "Ow, B! Damnit!"

"What are you guys doing?" Willow asks, suspicion in her voice.

"We were just talking," Buffy says quickly. "Working out our differences, you know. We fight all the time and that's… bad. So we're trying to… not. Fight, that is. We don't want to fight. Uh, we'll be out in a second."

Yeah, cause _that _was smooth.

"Alright… well, I'll see you guys out there," Willow says, her voice still filled with suspicion. They hear her walk away and the door close behind her and both Buffy and Faith release a breath of relief, though probably for two very different reasons.

Faith has no idea where the hell they stand now that they've been interrupted. A large part of her still wants to take her, _own _her, but now that she has some air and some space to think she's pretty sure they shouldn't make this worse than it already is.

"Everything that happened… everything I… _said…,"_ Buffy starts, still breathing a bit heavily but looking really embarrassed at the same time. She seems to have started to come to her senses. "It… it never happened."

Faith looks at her for a moment before agreeing, "Okay." Because hell, it'll stop some really fucked up sober conversation later and that's always a plus.

"We don't talk about it, ever," Buffy tells her, clarifying to make sure Faith gets it. "I mean I… I think I'll freak out." Faith's pretty damn sure she agrees with that at least.

"S'Cool. Already forgotten."

Buffy nods, walking towards the stall door. She unlocks it, opening it before she stops and turns back to her. "Thanks," she says softly. She gives her a little embarrassed half smile before she walks away, leaving Faith in there.

Faith bangs her head back against the stall wall. She's in _hell._

Now she's horny as fuck too. This is so fucking cruel. In what twisted, fucked up universe is any of this fair? Really. Faith sighs in annoyance and hits the stall door to open it, making it bang against the wall as she practically stomps out. She's flushed, her clit is throbbing, and all she can fucking think about is sex. Damnit. She knew coming in here would be a bad idea. She seriously needs to learn some more self control. Either that or Buffy does.

When she comes out she stops, seeing Buffy in the corner talking to a man. She raises an eyebrow and folds her arms across her chest, watching them for a minute. She feels Willow come up next to her and she asks without taking her eyes off the two of them, "Who's that?"

Willow looks over to see what Faith's staring at. "Ohh! I-I think that's—!" she says excitedly, but doesn't finish her sentence.

"Who?"

"Angel," she says, looking at him like he's the most fascinating man on this earth. Who the fuck is _Angel?_

"Who the fuck is that?"

"Hey guys," Xander says, coming up to them with a smirk on his face as he looks at Faith. "_You_ were gone long," he says pointedly.

"Nothin' happened," Faith answers honestly, but distracted. The guy just put his hand on Buffy's arm, coaxing her over to a corner before he starts speaking to her seriously. He doesn't move his hand and Faith can feel her blood start boiling. "Who the_ fuck_ is Angel?" she repeats.

"Who?" Xander asks, then realizes Faith's not looking at them. He follows her line of sight and sees Buffy and the man. "Who's that with Buffy?"

"What I'm trying to figure out," Faith says, then looks at Willow who looks guilty.

"I… I d-don't think I should say…" she stutters a little, obviously wrong to have brought it up in the first place.

"Red, don't fuck around."

"I… I don't know if it's him or not!" she defends, looking like a trapped animal backed into a corner. "B-But I think it's…" Faith looks at her expectantly and Willow sighs. "I think it's the guy she met in the graveyard."

"Stalker boy?" Faith asks, surprised, looking back over to them. She seems like she knows him more than one night. "How long has this dude been following her?"

"H-He… w-well he… uh…"

"Willow, take a breath. I'm not gonna beat it outta ya or nothin'. Chill," Faith tells her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Willow takes a breath.

"They've been um… talking. F-For a couple weeks now," Willow tells her quietly, nervous.

"And she just failed to mention this to Giles, to me, to _anyone _but you?" Faith asks. That doesn't sound good.

"She just… I don't think she wanted…" Willow sighs, defeated. "Please don't tell her I told you."

"I don't like him," Xander decides, watching them. Faith's inclined to agree. He's way too… close to her. She's smiling at him and it makes her want to punch something.

"Fuck this," Faith says, stomping off towards the bar.

"Faith!" Willow tries, but she ignore her and keeps walking. She slides around to the entrance of the bar and leans against the side, watching Trish pour drinks. When she turns and sees Faith standing there she smirks.

"Something tells me you're not here for a shot."

"When's your break?" Faith asks, getting right to the point.

Trish laughs a little, throwing a bar towel into the bin and coming over to her. She leans on the counter, looking at her. "Why?" she asks, a teasing smile on her lips. She knows why, but Faith will tell her anyway. She smirks:

"Because I wanna fuck you."

Trish puts her tongue between her teeth before she smiles, chuckling a little. "Always direct, I like that about you." She looks at her watch, but doesn't tell her when it is yet. She looks at her. "You know I told you to stop fucking with my head."

"Then why are you checkin' to see when you get off?" Faith counters. Trish smirks, then shrugs a little. She motions over her shoulder to some chick sitting on the other end of the bar.

"Complete fucking clit tease, I swear to you."

"Yeah, I got one of those too," Faith says, thinking of Buffy. She smirks and cocks her head, licking her bottom lip a little as she eyes her up. "So ya game?"

Trish looks at her for a minute before calling over her shoulder. "Brandon? I'm gonna take my break. Will you be good for like twenty minutes?" The guy, Brandon, nods and Trish slides past Faith telling her softly, "Boss is in the storage room; meet me in the bathroom."

Faith watches her ass the entire time she walks away and waits for a minute before she goes after her. Her eyes flicker to Buffy and _Angel,_ still in the corner talking and she heads quickly into the bathroom before she goes over there and rips his stalker fucking head from his body. When she walks in, Trish holds her hand up to the door to indicate which stall she's in and Faith walks in, closing it and locking it behind her quickly before pressing her up against the wall forcefully.

Trish moans softly, grabbing onto Faith. "Who's got you all riled up, lover?" she taunts as she grabs the hem of Faith's shirt and lifts it over her head, discarding it to the floor as Faith works on the buttons on the older blonde's jeans.

"You now," Faith breathes before her lips meet hers, making Trish moan hard against her lips and fight to get Faith's leather pants off of her body. Faith kisses her hungrily, all the tension that Buffy started forcing its way out. Her hands slide up Trish's shirt to cup her full,_ huge_ fake tits and the blonde gasps hard as Faith's thumbs lightly graze her nipples.

Trish swears against her lips as she tugs on Faith's pants, which don't seem to be cooperating. She tears her lips away from hers and pants out, "I fucking hate your pants, girl, why the hell do you always gotta wear this crap?!" Faith laughs, smacking Trish's hands away before pulling them to the ground.

"Cause they're hot," she tells her with a smirk as she steps out of them. Trish rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. Shut up," she tells her before suddenly Faith's the one being pushed backwards, her back colliding with the stall wall with a loud BANG. Their lips meet again as Trish's hands touch every inch of Faith they can reach, making the brunette close her eyes and arch into her touch as she tries with everything she has to not think of Buffy.

Trish's lips leave hers and drag down her throat, nipping at her pulse point before dragging slowly down her body as she slides to her knees. Faith is panting, worked up like hell already from the last hour of her fucking life and she tangles her fingers in Trish's long hair before guiding her where she needs her to be. "Say please," Trish taunts before licking up her inner thigh in a way that makes Faith tremble.

"_Fuck,_ come on, don't dick around," Faith pants, her grip tightening on her hair.

Trish chuckles softly. "I haven't seen you this worked up in a long time; you're practically pouring down your thighs. Gotta have my fun…" she nips at Faith's inner thigh and the younger girl slams her head back against the stall wall. "Now say please."

"Fuck you. _Please_," Faith mocks and moans as Trish digs her nails into her skin.

"Good enough."

Trish's tongue slips through her folds and Faith bites on her bottom lip hard to stifle her moan. She looks down between her legs and all she sees is a mess of blonde hair and her brain flashes to Buffy whether she wants it to or not. Fuck, this so isn't good. "Oh fuck," Faith pants as Trish's lips wrap around her clit, sucking her off in a way that's making her head spin.

Then the fucking door to the bathroom opens. "Faith?"

Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. _Shit._

"Faith? Are you in here?" Buffy asks. Trish takes her mouth off of her and looks at her with an evil glint in her eyes before she slides two fingers deep inside her, making Faith cry out before she can stop it.

"Fuck! B… this… _oh god_… isn't the best… time…" Faith manages, her hands coming up above her head to hold onto the stall as she shoves her hips towards Trish's hand, panting. Fuck, this day has the worst timing ever.

"That her?" Trish asks her in a low, taunting voice. "The one that's got you so fucking wet?" Okay, this game sucks. She knows Trish has a bit of a reason to get back at her; the first time they had sex she wanted more than that and Faith shot her down in not the nicest of ways… in front of her friends no less. But fuck, aren't they past that yet?

"I think I want her to hear you cum, show her what she's missing," Trish says with a little laugh as she speeds up the pace of her fingers. Faith cries out and she knows Buffy's probably standing there stock still in shock from what she walked in on.

"Buffy! Get… out… _Fuck!"_ Faith screams, closing her eyes as her orgasm starts to build rapidly, coursing through her body, about ready to explode. She's so gonna kick Trish's ass for this.

"I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't…" Buffy stutters finally and Faith can hear her backing up towards the door. Unfortunately so can Trish and that's when she chooses to press against Faith's g spot firmly, making Faith pop so fucking hard she's pretty sure she just went blind.

"FUCK! Oh _GOD!"_ she screams, her hand slamming into the stall door, making the whole thing shake as her body trembles from the intensity of her orgasm. Every inch of her body is on fire and her mind has turned into a puddle of mush and all she can feel are her inner walls throbbing from the force. When she finally comes down from her high she takes a breath and she can hear the bathroom door slam closed as Buffy practically runs out.

Faith growls as Trish stands up, smirking, and her hands connect with her chest before she pushes her back. "What the fuck was that?!"

"Relax, Faith. I was just having some fun."

"Bitch I should fucking kill you," Faith growls, her eyes flashing dangerously. Trish raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you didn't care about anyone. So who's she then? You obviously give a fuck."

"She's my _friend!"_ Faith screams, furious. "I don't need my fucking friends to hear me have orgasms, you bitch!"

"Yeah? And I didn't need _my _friends to watch you act like fucking me meant nothing to you," Trish shoots back at her, her own eyes angry now. Faith stops, clenching her jaw. _Fuck _she wants to hit her, but the last thing she needs is another assault charge. That, and Trish is the only one who serves her in this bar.

Priorities.

"Look, I'm sorry about that, okay?" Faith snaps. Best she's getting as an apology.

"We're even now," Trish tells her seriously. They both look at each other for a long time. Faith glares at her, but her eyes sweep down her naked body regardless, making the blonde smirk.

"You still want to fuck me."

"I still want to punch you."

"Yeah but you still want to fuck me too," Trish says with a smirk. Faith's eyes flash and she pushes her back against the wall, but presses herself up against her just as quickly.

"Yeah well, I'm a bit fucked up in the head," Faith tells her, her hands wandering up to her breasts.

"Mmm…" Trish moans, closing her eyes and pressing her lower body into Faith. "Yeah, you are." She bites her bottom lip and looks at her as Faith cups her breasts roughly and her lips find her neck again. "But I like it…" she purrs, right before Faith gives her the best angry sex of her life.

**TBC…**


	17. It Doesn't Suck

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
****It Doesn't Suck**

Faith's not gonna be fucking Trish for awhile.

That was so _fucked up._ She gets that yeah, maybe she had it coming to her. But what she did to her was _months _ago. Then again, they always say revenge is best served cold. Still, Willow or Xander… she could have dealt with that. Willow might have been a bit traumatized but she'd get over it and Xander would probably just cream his pants and have a new fantasy to fill up his long and lonely nights. But _Buffy?_

What made it fuckin' worse was that Buffy _was _the reason she was wet in the first place. So everything Trish said was true, and Buffy heard every single fucking word.

Faith wants nothing more than to beat the bitch's head in.

But she likes it here. This is her club. Trish is _her _bartender that serves her even though she's five years underage. Well, she thinks she's only two or three years underage and Faith's never really bothered to correct her. The woman's like twenty five and she'd probably freak a bit after she realizes she's been fucking a sixteen year old. Is that even legal in California? Whatever.

She's still pissed though so when Trish leaves her alone in the stall she starts punching the wall, just trying to get some aggression out. "Fucking bitch," she mutters. She growls and punches the wall, one more time and very fucking hard. "Aw _fuck!"_ she swears, hissing in pain and holding her bruised knuckles with her other hand. Shit. That was stupid.

Faith swears again as she opens the stall door, going to the sink and turning it on to run her knuckles under the cold water to dull the pain. The bathroom door opens and Faith looks up in the mirror to see Buffy coming in looking really awkward. Faith drops her gaze and focuses on her hands underneath the water.

"Hey," Buffy says softly, coming over to lean on the sink next to her.

Faith doesn't look at her and mumbles, "Hey."

"I, um… I'm sorry… about… well, I didn't know you were—" Buffy stutters, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"S'Fine," Faith tells her, still not looking at her as she turns off the water and moves away from her to get a paper towel. "Ya told me anything that happens tonight doesn't really happen. So just forget about it."

Buffy nods, folding her arms into herself. "I need to… talk to you."

"So talk," Faith says flatly as she dries her hands off. She can see Buffy's reflection in the metal of the paper towel dispenser.

"There's um… there's something going on that I think you should probably know about. Well, everyone, actually. But I think I want to talk to you… first," Buffy gets out rather awkwardly. Faith turns to her, crumpling up the paper towel in her hand and throwing it in the trash.

"What, about your little boy toy?"

"What?" Buffy asks, looking at her surprised and a little confused.

"Your big hunk of meat ya got out there, Twinkie. I saw him," Faith tells her, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall. Nothing about her facial expression reads 'happy.'

"No… well I mean yeah, but no, it's not what you're thinking," Buffy tells her, shaking her head.

Faith raises an eyebrow, "And how do ya know what I'm thinking?"

"I… I don't. I was just saying he isn't… I mean we're not…" Buffy stutters, trying to find the words but apparently getting a little intimidated around Faith after everything that went on.

"Fuck who ya want, B. Watch me give a shit," Faith tells her flatly. She clearly gives a shit though; her voice gives it away. She doesn't know _why _she gives a shit though. Maybe cause the guys a fucking stalker and that's just… that's fucked up.

Yeah, her logic and train of thought is just _great _today. She's too damn drunk and angry at this point, just about everything. She's so ready to go home.

"What? No, Faith. I'm not having sex with him," Buffy tells her, looking at her strangely.

"Yeah, not _yet,"_ Faith scoffs.

"What are you doing? Why are you turning this around? This has nothing to do with that. That has nothing to do with _anything,"_ Buffy tells her.

"Look, you do what you do and I'll do the same. Square?" Faith asks her, glaring a bit as she gets off the wall and starts off towards the door. Buffy stops her.

"No, Faith. I'm not—what are you doing? That's not even what I came in here to talk to you about. Why are you getting all pissy at me?"

"I dunno, Princess," I mock, turning around to face her and getting up in her space. "Maybe cause you're crushing on the psycho stalker. Really smart, B; seriously, ten fucking Brownie points for you."

"What? I'm not—!" Buffy starts, but quickly gets really angry at Faith's attitude. "You know what? Who cares even if I _do _have a crush on him? I can like whoever I want, Faith!"

"I ain't stoppin' you," Faith tells her dismissively, holding her hands up. "Have fun with it, B. I'll be sure to look real hard for your body when you go missing."

"Why are you being like this?!" Buffy screeches, furious now.

"I ain't being like anything. I told you; go do what you want."

"I'm_ not_ having sex with him, Faith! I'm not having sex with anybody! I don't _want_ to have sex with anyone besides—!" she cuts herself off quickly, not finishing her sentence.

"Besides who? _Angel?"_ Faith mocks. Buffy just stares at her like she has no idea what's going on and hell, Faith doesn't either. "Yeah, whatever. This closet case act of yours is getting real old, B. _You're a fucking lesbian._ Just own up to it and stop trying to 'fix' yourself by throwing yourself at the nearest psychopath!"

"Are you on _drugs?"_ she yells. "You don't listen to a single thing that comes out my mouth, do you? Your head is too far up your own ass to hear anything besides the sound of your own droning voice!"

"Fuck you!"

"No, fuck _you!"_ Buffy screams. "I don't even know why I _like_ you!"

"S'cause of my nice rack," Faith says flatly, then smirks. It infuriates Buffy more.

"Pig!"

"Bitch!"

"SLUT!"

"Dyke!"

Yeah, _this _is mature.

"Uh, hello? Pot; kettle," Buffy snaps, pointing at her. "What right to have to go around calling anyone a dyke?!"

"Just tryin' to help ya out, Princess, since you don't seem to wanna own up," Faith snaps back, her eyes flashing. Yeah, this has gone way past immature and way past pointless. Faith doesn't even know what they're arguing about anymore or why it started; she's just pissed.

"You don't have to justify wanting to sleep with me by calling me a lesbian!" Buffy screams. Faith stops, here eyebrows rising. Uh, excuse the fuck outta her?

"Way to swell your ego, B. Last time I checked I wasn't the one begging to be taken. _Oh, kiss me Faith_," she mocks. _"You make me feel things!"_ Buffy's eyes flash and her fist connects with Faith's face before she even realizes she's moved, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Fuck, getting hit by a Slayer sucks on so many levels. Her head is spinning and she's pretty sure she's gonna vomit. She coughs, spitting blood.

"Go to _hell!"_ Buffy screams before she stomps past her and out the bathroom door, leaving her there on the floor.

Faith brings her hand up to her mouth, then takes it away and looks at it. Fuck, she's bleeding like hell; she's pretty sure her tooth cut her tongue open. Stupid bitch.

Whatever was going on between them before? Yeah, it's definitely fuckin' over. She pretty damn sure she hates that bitch like no one she's ever hated in her entire _life._

* * *

"Buffy… are you sure?" Giles asks, worry coloring his voice as he looks at his Slayer.

"That's what he said," Buffy tells him softly.

"I take it this is bad?" Xander asks, looking at Giles.

Giles is notably pale and Faith says, "I don't think bad even begins to cover it, Xand."

"The Master has risen," Giles says, like he can't believe the words coming out of his mouth. He sits down slowly, staring at the far wall. "Dear lord…"

Faith looks at him and then to Buffy, who won't meet her gaze. They haven't spoken one word to each other since she punched her out in The Bronze last night. Willow found her spitting blood in the sink and asked what happened, but Faith just started screaming about how Buffy's a stupid cunt and stormed out, leaving the club and walking all the way home in her half drunken, angry stupor. She's surprised she didn't get eaten along the way.

"How do we even know stalker boy's tellin' the truth?" Faith asks, just to put that question out there since, yeah, not really the best thing to do taking the word of a _stalker._

"He's not lying, Faith," Buffy snaps at her, the first thing she's said to her all day.

"No one asked you to stick up for your boyfriend, B," Faith retorts. "This conversation is reserved for people who haven't been infected by _stupid."_

"Oh go _fuck_ yourself, Faith. You're the one—!" Buffy starts, but Giles slams his hand down on the table, making the sound echo through the library and both girls fall silent.

"I'm going to say this once, and only once," Giles says, dangerously calm. "Now, _especially_ now, is not the time for you two to fight with each other. I don't know what happened and I don't care, but I do know that it's not as important as this, so will you both _please _shut up?"

Buffy and Faith look guilty and don't say another word. Giles has never talked to them like that before. Giles clears his throat and situates his glasses on his nose. "Alright," he takes a breath. "What else did Angel say?"

"Something about a harvest or something, but I really don't think this guy is the apple pickin' kind of vampire," Buffy tells him. Giles eyes almost pop out of his skull.

"The Harvest?!" he practically screeches. Faith's eyes go wide. Wow, she's never heard Giles make_ that _sound before. She's starting to freak out; she's never seen Giles this shaken up before. "When? Did he say when? Buffy, think!"

"No!" Buffy cries, getting freaked out by the way Giles is acting too. "He just said soon!"

"Oh good lord," Giles breathes. "I need to sit down."

"Y-You are sitting down," Willow tells him.

"…So I am," he says, realizing that he's planted firmly in his chair.

"G… ya gonna explain who this Master is?" Faith asks.

"Right. Yes, of course. I'm sorry, I'm just a little…" he fiddles with his glasses and clears his throat. "The Master is one of the oldest living vampires; head of a clan called the Order of Aurelius. According to the Council's records, he came to Sunnydale decades ago in hopes of opening the Hellmouth. But he had some trouble opening the dimensional portal and he ended up triggering an earthquake that swallowed half the town… including him; his failure ended up sealing him in a force field. He has been trapped ever since…" he sighs, "up until now."

"Sounds… shitty," Faith says, trying to keep the pounding in her chest to a minimum. This dude being back didn't sound like a walk in the park.

Giles takes a breath. "Unfortunately, it gets worse." He stands, walking over to a pile of books before leafing through them. "There is a prophecy that foretold the Master rising again."

"I'm starting to hate prophecies," Buffy says.

Faith's inclined to agree.

"Here," Giles says, looking at one of his books before he starts reading, _"__And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master's great warrior... The Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall meet him and usher him to his immortal destiny. ...the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell."_

Everyone looks at Buffy, whose eyes have gone wide for a second.

"This doesn't give me the warm fuzzies," she says. There's silence as everyone watches her react, and then Faith get's amazed as she sees the Slayer come out in her; clear as day. She looks determined. "Well, that little book can say whatever it wants; I'll stop him. And I'm_ so_ not planning to go to hell anytime soon so they can just forget about that plan." She stands up, pacing a little. "Alright, so what's this Anointed person have to do with the Master, exactly?"

"It is stated that he will help the Master escape his confinements," Giles tells her. "For now, the Master is weak. He'll be underground. The Harvest, as legend tells it, is a ritual in which the Master will appoint a 'vessel'. The vessel will then feed; giving its strength to him so he can walk among us again."

"Alright so; easy plan then: kill the vessel," Buffy says confidently.

"Easy on paper," Faith says. "I mean, ya don't even know when this shit's happening, who this dude is, and where he's gonna be at."

"Way to stop the fun train, Faith."

"Look, I'm just being realistic here," Faith says, holding up her hands in defense. "But I'm with you; let's go in and tear this town apart lookin' for the bastard."

"_We_ aren't doing anything," Buffy tells her. "_I _will be doing something, everything, all of it; me, on my own, without you."

"Like I'm gonna let you have all the fun, Blondie; whatever," Faith scoffs.

"Faith, Buffy's right. You are not a Slayer and therefore are ill equipped to fight in this battle," Giles tells her. Faith goes to retort but he holds up his hand, silencing her. "I understand your dedication and I appreciate your vigilance but this is one fight I will not allow you to participate in."

"So what, you're just gonna let B run into the bad guy's lair without backup? What the fuck is that?"

"I'm the Slayer, Faith," Buffy tells her. "It's what I do, and it's what I do alone."

"This is some fucked up shit," Faith says, pushing some of the books on the table away from her. Several fell to the floor with a thud and she glares. This is fucking ridiculous. She's not gonna just let B walk into some vamp's lair and get herself fucking killed.

Then again, her going in there might get _her_ killed, but that still ain't a reason for her to pussy out. Everyone's gotta die sometime.

"Well, now that that's settled and my books have been abused," Giles says, reaching down to pick up the books that fell. Willow helps him. "Buffy, I think you should talk to Angel again; see if he knows more about a timeline for all of this, especially when the Harvest will commence."

Buffy nods. "I'll go by his place after dark."

"You know where his place is?" Faith asks with raised eyebrows and so_ not_ a jealous tone in her voice. Bitchy, yes. Jealous, no.

"Yeah, I do. Do you have a problem with that?" Buffy challenges her.

"Told ya you can bounce on whatever dude's dick you feel like," Faith says cooly.

"What, like how you let random whores fuck you in bathroom stalls? No thanks," Buffy shoots back at her.

"Uh, guys?" Xander asks, confused. "Am I sensing a jealousy vibe in the room?"

"NO!" both girls yell at him. He holds up his hands in defense and slinks lower in his chair.

"This is completely off topic," Giles tells them, though seems a bit flustered at the interaction between his two charges. "And I'm sure the bell is about to ring any moment, so you should all be heading off to class."

"_Fine _by me," Faith snaps, shooting daggers at Buffy before she gets up quickly, the chair skidding across the floor from the force with which it's pushed back.

She storms out; not looking at a single one of them as she quickly leaves. Fuck this. Fuck _her._

* * *

Later that night, Faith's lying on her stomach in her hotel room, munching on Twizzlers as she watches some old movie on TV. There's a knock at her door and she turns to look, confusion flashing over her face. She isn't expecting anyone. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she sits up before using her hands to push herself off the bed, and her comfortable position, to cross over to the door.

When she opens it, Buffy's standing in front of her, covered in something that doesn't look or smell very nice.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

"Some demon decided to explode when it died. I'm covered in…" she looks distressed and a little more than grossed out. "…nasty, icky, demon goo."

"Can see that," Faith asks, staring at her and trying not to smell her. "Why're ya here though? Didn't we get all pissy this morning and stop talkin'?"

"I know and I'm sorry about… everything. But I just… Faith, my mom doesn't know about Slayer stuff and I can't go home like this." The desperation is clear in her voice.

Faith raises an eyebrow at her. "You askin' for a favor?"

"Yes. Please. A big one," Buffy says, practically begging her now. "Please,_ please_ can I use your shower and borrow a clean pair of clothes? I swear I'll make it up to you somehow."

Faith looks at her, the urge to just close the door in the blonde's face rising up, but she suppresses it. She might be pissed at Buffy for, fuck, everything, but she can't just leave her like that. She sighs, stepping aside so she can come in. "Just don't drip that shit everywhere or you're cleanin' it up," she says flatly.

"Thank you," Buffy says, relief in her voice. "Seriously, I'll make it up to you somehow," she tells her before crossing the room and heading into Faith's bathroom.

"Yeah, whatever," Faith says dismissively, grabbing a clean towel out of the top of the closet and heading into the bathroom. "Here," she says, handing it to her. "Shampoo and shit's in the shower."

"Thank you," Buffy says, "I mean it, Faith."

"Don't make a thing outta it," Faith mumbles before leaving her alone, closing the door behind her. She hears Buffy turn on the water and she flops back down on her bed, trying to pay attention to the TV. It was hard though because for one, she missed part of the movie and is now confused about what's going on and two, Buffy is naked in her shower.

Mostly it's number two that's getting to her.

_Naked._ In her _shower._

Faith's still pissed at her, she's gotta be. The bitch kicked her ass at The Bronze and called her a slut when she was the one fucking around with stalker boy in the first place. But it's really kinda fuckin' stupid in that make-no-sense kind of way that Buffy can just show up her door, give her puppy dog eyes and a half assed apology and Faith's all, "Yeah, sure, come on in, B!"

Seriously.

Buffy's in the shower for a good twenty minutes and Faith is painfully aware of every single one of them. Time seemed to slow to a crawl and Faith was trying with little to no success to not picture Buffy naked in there… water dripping down her breasts and her stomach, down to…

Yeah, okay. This isn't healthy or normal.

When the shower turns off, Faith realizes while she was lost in her daydream world of Buffy and said shower, she seemed to be touching her breast. She takes her hand away like she's been burned, chastises herself for being a horny idiot for a good thirty seconds, and then looks up when she hears the bathroom door open.

Buffy steps out in nothing but a towel and… fuck. Faith's horny problem just got a whole lot worse. Her blonde hair is hanging in wet strands down her face, a little crimped to let Faith know that Buffy does not, by any means, have naturally straight hair. Buffy gives her a small, shy smile.

"Thanks," she says softly. "That… helped a lot." She turns a bit pink and it makes Faith's eyebrow rise, but she doesn't comment on it. Instead she picks herself up off the bed, walking towards her closet.

"S'probably get ya dressed," Faith says, wincing at how strained her voice came out sounding. Great. She chooses not to look at Buffy, instead going through her clothes trying to find something sort of suitable for the older girl.

Buffy walks up next to her, looking into Faith's closet with her and Faith is hyperaware of how damn close she is and how good she smells. She shakes her head, trying to get herself out of her haze. It must be the steam from the bathroom. She pulls down a pair of jeans and a tank top before handing it to her.

"Here."

"Thanks," Buffy says, taking the garments from her. She doesn't move though, and they stand there, just looking at each other, for what seems like an eternity. Finally she does move though, backing up slowly before turning and retreating back in the bathroom to put on the clothes. Faith lets out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

_Shit._

She needs to get this shit under control. She's supposed to be mad at her, not hoping to rip off her fuckin' towel and do her on the floor. Or, well, maybe the bed, since it's there. Okay, fuck, now she's getting visuals. Buffy so needs to leave.

When Buffy exits the bathroom, fully clothed now, she says thank you again to Faith who mumbles something incoherent back. "I should get going…" Buffy trails off, offering her a soft smile. "But I won't forget that I owe you, okay?"

"S'cool," Faith mutters, really needing her to leave. She walks Buffy to her door and opens it, holding it out for the older girl. Buffy stops in the doorway though, facing her. She bites on her tongue softly; a slight pink hue to her cheeks as she leans in, touching Faith's arm gently, before kissing Faith softly on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispers again. Her voice is sweet like honey and it flows through every inch of Faith's body. Buffy doesn't step back right away though; her cheek is pressed up against Faith's, feeling the warmth of the other girl against her. Faith's pretty sure she's not breathing correctly because she feels a bit lightheaded. What the hell is happening to her?

Buffy pulls back slowly, her cheek sliding against Faith's. She pauses though before they lose the connection and Faith closes her eyes as she feels all her willpower just slip away. Faith turns her head slowly, making her lips come into contact with Buffy's in the softest of kisses.

Shit. Yeah, she's doomed.

This kiss isn't like the last. Buffy gasps quietly against Faith's lips, but quickly opens her mouth up in invitation, the hand that was resting on Faith's arm sliding up to cup the back of her neck. Every inch of Faith's skin tingles with the feeling of Buffy being pressed up against her and the stupid butterflies in her stomach are making an appearance, making Faith very aware that she's never done this before.

She's never just… kissed someone like this before. It was sweet, it was slow, and it felt like… like it was supposed to mean something.

When Buffy's tongue cautiously slides into Faith's mouth, it makes the younger girl groan quietly at the feeling, snaking her arms around Buffy's waist and pulling her impossibly closer to her. She could feel… fuck, _everything._ It was almost surreal to her. God, what has she gotten herself into?

When they break, Buffy looks into her eyes; doubt, happiness, worry, and warmth all reflected in them. God, she looked happy but scared like hell. Faith gives her a small smile of comfort and leans down to give her a soft peck on the lips. "You should go… you're Mum's probably gonna worry," she says softly.

Buffy swallows, nervous, but nods. She doesn't step away from her though and Faith can feel her fingers on the back of her neck trace lazy circles. "What are we doing?" she asks her softly.

"Fuck if I know," Faith tells her honestly.

"Still not gay," Buffy reminds her, but her fingers that are slowly tracing Faith's jaw says otherwise. Faith rolls her eyes.

"Someone's gonna have to shove you outta that closet, huh?"

Buffy smirks, amused. She leans in and presses her lips lightly against Faith's before pulling back and whispering, "Maybe. But I think I know who I'd like it to be." She steps back from her, giving her a shy smile. "I'll see you at school."

"Okay," Faith says, feeling way too many weird things and not being able to describe a single one of them. Buffy turns to leave and Faith closes the door behind her softly, exhaling a long breath.

She's not really sure what this is, but whatever it is… it doesn't suck.

**TBC…**


	18. Bros Before Hos

_**A/N: Once again, thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them ^_**_

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
****Bros Before Hos**

She doesn't have a girlfriend. She doesn't have a girlfriend. She doesn't have a girlfriend.

Buffy was just a… friend who she just happened to have a, uh, tender moment with or something, whatever. It was because of… um. It wasn't cause she was horny, because then they would have gotten naked. It wasn't because Buffy was upset about demon goo and she needed to be comforted because, well, that didn't happen either. And it _definitely _wasn't because they had feelings for each other.

Okay, she needs to start thinking about the reason why it was, not the reasons why it wasn't.

…

…….

SHE WAS HELPING BUFFY COME OUT OF THE CLOSET! Ha!

There we go. She was just being a friend and helping her come out because it's horrible to live your life in denial. And, okay, apparently she's been really quick to label Buffy as a "friend" recently and that's kinda weird too. But it's a whole lot better than thinking she could possibly be anything else.

But it's just messed up.

They fight all the freaking time. _All the time!_ And then suddenly it can go from bad to good in a blink of an eye and back around again in all the same. Why is it that one look from Buffy with her big green eyes and Faith can just feel reality just slip away? Is this some kind of mental disorder? Because really, this can't be normal; maybe it's some kind of demonic thing. Maybe she's under a spell or it's all part of some grand plan to drive her out of her mind.

…Alright, she's not stupid. She knows what this is. She's just making a whole shit load of excuses.

She doesn't do attachments and the fact that she's forming one with Buffy, for some screwed up unknown reason because hi, the two of them are _nothing _alike, really freaks her out. She can't be tied down like that; it would suffocate her.

So yeah, she'll help Buffy ease her way out of the closet. She can do that. She can help and be nice because… alright, that's not really who she is, but she can try. Besides, she'd be lying if she said she didn't wanna be the first girl to tap that shit. But she's keeping some distance too. There will be no hand holding, no romantic walks along the beach (if there even was a beach around here), no cute little pet names, no ties, no attachments, no commitments.

Faith takes another drag of her cigarette as she watches everyone making their way into school. She's sitting on the brick wall outside, just a little past school boundaries (mainly so Snyder won't scream about how juvenile delinquent behavior like smoking isn't allowed on school property and give her detention). She doesn't smoke all that often, but today definitely seemed like a cigarette day because her nerves were shot to fuck. She doesn't know how Buffy's going to react to what went on between them last night. She doesn't know if she's gonna be all 'freaked out denial girl' again or is gonna be 'clingy girl'. Neither scenario put Faith at ease.

Faith looks down at her cigarette, watching the paper burn agonizingly slow under her gaze. She watches the smoke rise and curl up around her hand and fuck, she's probably not gonna be the best smelling thing later but fuck it. She puts it to her lips again; taking another drag and feeling it go through her chest. She tries to concentrate on how it feels rather than trying to think. Thinking is just making her freak out more, no matter how calm and collected she (thinks) she looks on the outside.

"Ew, you smoke?"

Speak of the person who's making her need to do that…

Faith looks up and watches as Buffy walks over to her, waving her hand as she gets closer to Faith and her cloud of smoke. She turns up her nose in distaste. "Why are you doing that? That's really gross, Faith."

"Needed it," Faith mumbles before taking one last, long drag. She exhales and uses her thumb and forefinger to flick the rest of it out into the street. She watches it land on the pavement before looking back up at Buffy, needing to squint a little because the sun was directly behind her. "Sup?" she asks, trying to be casual.

"Just… wanted to see you. Say hi," Buffy says, tugging her book bag over her shoulder a little self-consciously. She looks down at her shoes for a second and there's a silence that passes between the two girls. "Um," Buffy starts, toeing the ground a bit. "Do you maybe want to… ditch first period with me?"

Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. "Thought you were all goody-goody."

"I am. I mean, well, not _goody-_ goody, just… I don't know. I was thinking that maybe we could, um…" Buffy still won't look at her. "You know, maybe we could go out and have like… breakfast together or something, if you want, that is."

Is it just Faith, or did that sound an awful lot like Buffy just asked her out on a date?

"Already ate," Faith says automatically. She shrugs, trying to act casual even though she's freaking out that Buffy thinks that they… whatever. Something. Jesus. She can't form a thought. "'Sides, gotta test in Bio, been fuckin' up a bit in that class and I actually studied so I need to… take that test."

There is no test. She's actually got a B average in Biology. She's such a fuckin' liar.

"Oh," Buffy says, trying not to look dejected. She forces a smile and looks up at Faith. "Okay, well… I'll um, I'll see you at lunch when we meet with Giles. Angel gave me some information last night and I guess that calls for a meeting."

Angel. His name makes Faith's blood boil.

"Whatever," Faith says, noncommittally. She notices Buffy's face fall a little at her clear dismissal and she purses her lips together. Fuck, did Faith just upset her?

"I'll see you then, I guess," Buffy says softly, and before Faith can say another word she walks off towards the school. Faith sighs heavily. She got clingy Buffy. Or, at least she got Buffy who apparently thought the kiss was more than what it was.

(It was so much more than what it was)

Fuck. This is ridiculous. She should probably lay down some ground rules for Buffy. Be like "Yeah, I'll help you work through your lesbian tendencies, _but…"_ y'know, no thinking that Faith is her girl. Maybe Buffy doesn't even think that and Faith's overanalyzing. Which, if that's the case, then it freaks her out that her head went to that place so quickly; either way, there needs to be boundaries set.

Problem is, she's kind of afraid to hurt Buffy's feelings. When did she grow soft? No, scratch that, when the hell did she start caring about bitches? They're supposed to just be there to get her off; that's it.

Wow. She's kind of a womanizer.

Whatever.

"What's with the deep thoughts?"

Faith looks up to see Xander standing over her. Damn, when the hell did he get there? She squints at the sunlight a little before getting up quickly and grabbing his hand. "Come on, we're ditching first period." She starts dragging him along whether he likes it or not.

"Uh, but I have—" Xander sputters.

"No ya don't. I need to chill with a guy right now before my brain explodes from all the estrogen in the air."

"Uh, Faith? You do realize you're a woman, right?"

"Might be a woman, but I ain't that fuckin' girly," Faith responds, still pulling him down the street. Xander follows like a puppet on strings for a couple blocks before he plants his feet firmly on the ground. Faith kind of springs back from the unexpected stop and turns to glare at him. She pulls. He doesn't budge. She sighs in annoyance. _"What?"_

"You're acting like a spaz. Are you going to tell me what's going on? Because if not I'm going back to school. Ditching just to ditch is only going to earn me the 'Willow Death Glare' and it's not worth it unless you spill about what's got you so screwed up in the head lately," Xander tells her.

"I'm not screwed up in the head!"

Xander looks at her skeptically and Faith grumbles and kicks a pebble across the street. She doesn't want to get into this, but maybe she should. She shoves her hands in her pockets and looks up at him, scowling a little. "Guess."

"You say you're not girly and yet you're making me play a guessing game?" Xander asks her, his eyebrow rising. "Sounds pretty girly to me."

"Fuck off, okay? I just don't wanna say it outloud."

"Girl," he teases her.

"Asshole."

Xander smirks, but guesses anyway. Get's it in one, actually, and it makes Faith wonder if she's that fucking transparent. "Buffy."

Faith looks up at him and her shoulders sag a bit. "Okay, kinda fucked that you got that in one guess."

"Faith, I'm not blind. You two have been doing the flirting thing, then the jealous fight thing, and god knows what other things." Faith doesn't say anything so Xander goes on. "I guess she's out of the closet then?"

Faith scoffs, "Hardly."

"So you haven't been doing other things?" Xander pries.

"Not feedin' your masturbation fantasies, Xand," Faith says flatly. She knows she's just trying to avoid, and so does Xander.

"Hey, hey," he says, putting up his hands in defense. "That's not why I was asking. Not that I'm saying details wouldn't be great and all, I mean I'm sure it's…" he zones out for a second, then comes back, a little embarrassed by the annoyed look Faith is giving him. "Sorry. I'm just trying to be friend-guy here. Honest."

Faith rolls her eyes but sighs, flopping down on the stone wall that separates the sidewalk and someone's front yard. "We kissed," she says flatly. "…Twice."

"Okay, so what's the bad? That's she's all in the closet?"

"The bad? The _bad?"_ Faith practically screeches. Oh god, she is turning into a girl. It's like a train wreck though; she can't stop it. "Xander, I _ONLY_ KISSED HER!"

"So? You… oh," he says, finally getting it. His eyes go wide. "_Oh._ Oh my god."

"Yeah. Ya see why this is a huge fuckin' issue now?!"

"Okay, first; breathe. Second; don't hit me while I do my little 'Faith has a real crush on someone' dance," Xander says, then starts busting out in the middle of the sidewalk doing this ridiculous dance that was halfway between the Macarena and the Snoopy dance. Faith throws her backpack at him.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Ya didn't say I couldn't throw shit at ya."

"Good point. But still. Ow," Xander says, but he's got this grin on his face that makes Faith embarrassed. So, of course, when she's embarrassed… she get's grumpy. She folds her arms over her chest and states:

"And I don't gotta crush on the bitch."

"You so have a crush."

"No, really don't."

"Really do."

"Xander!"

"What? Just own up to it, Faith. You're growing up. It's kind of sweet," Xander says with a smirk. Oh, she is _this close_ to killing him.

"This isn't _sweet._ This is a fuckin' _nightmare."_

"For not being girly, you're kind of dramatic."

"Dude, you are so close to getting your face rearranged."

Xander rolls his eyes. He knows she won't do it. But he gets over his teasing phase and sits down next to Faith on the stone wall. "Alright, so… what are you going to do?"

"Nothin'."

"But you like her."

"No, I don't. I'm just… I don't know. Helping her come out of the closet or somethin'," Faith tells him, watching the cars pass on the street.

"Denial."

"Whatever."

"De-ni-al."

"She asked me on a date. I think," Faith says suddenly. Xander looks surprised at her revelation.

"Wait. Really? When? I thought you said she's still closeted. Now I'm confused."

"Before you came, she asked me to ditch with her and go out to breakfast. Told her I had to go to Bio and take a test." She sighs, pushing some of her brunette hair off of her face, feeling stupid for even talking about something like this. "I dunno how to deal with that. I ain't ever dated."

"Couldn't hurt to try," Xander offers.

"Yeah, it could. It could hurt a lot, actually," Faith tells him. She looks over at him before saying, "I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"I need you to… let Buffy know that I'm not the dating type. That she shouldn't expect much. That I'm the chick that fucks and that's it, that I don't get attached and that I ain't lookin' to."

"Faith…"

"I'm serious. Come on, please? Bros before hos," Faith reminds him, looking at him pointedly and holding out her fist. He sighs a little as he looks at her, but he eventually bumps it with his own.

"Bros before hos," he says, defeated. That was their code. "But that still doesn't mean I like it. I know you think you're happy being one big misogynistic asshole, but there're other options."

"Yeah, pussy-whipped options. It ain't me," Faith tells him.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Says the guy who's never had a girlfriend or been laid," Faith retorts, grumpy.

"Okay, _ouch."_

Faith looks guilty; she really needs to quit being such a bitch. "Sorry. I'm just… bein' a cunt I guess."

"You're not being a… okay, I'm not even going to say that word because that's messed up that you just called yourself that," Xander says. He really doesn't like that word. Hell, most people don't, and maybe that's why Faith uses it. Faith doesn't say anything and Xander checks his watch. "Come on, let's get back to school. Snyder starts wandering around the campus looking for people like us in like a half an hour."

Faith sighs, pushing herself off of the stone wall. She really didn't want to go back, kinda wanted to avoid everything actually, but she can't miss all her classes today. "Fine."

* * *

"Hey," Buffy says with a little smile as she enters the library, seeing Faith sitting on the counter (much to Giles' disapproval, but she keeps feigning deafness. She started making up ridiculous sign language to act like she couldn't hear him and after awhile he just gave up).

"Hey back," Faith says, feeling the discomfort in the situation all over again. She was the only one in the library so far (outside of Giles, who was actually in his office doing this that and another thing Faith wasn't listening to him babble on about for a good five minutes) and now she was extremely aware of the her and Buffy alone situation that she's been faced with. "Uh, what's up?"

She swears she used to have better conversational skills than this.

"Nothing. Just, you know, meeting and everything…" Buffy trails off, apparently also feeling a little uncomfortable. "So… how do you think you did on your test?"

Test? Oh right, the test. The made up test.

Faith shrugs. "Good enough, probably. I dunno." She slides off the counter, just to _do_ something, to move, but then realizes that's a stupid idea a little too late when she ends up closer to Buffy than she wanted to be; much closer. Like, Buffy's body is only three inches away kind of closer. Damnit.

"Faith… are you… freaking out?" Buffy asks softly, not meeting her gaze until the last second.

"About what?" Faith avoids.

"Well, it's just that you can barely look at me after… last night. And I thought I was supposed to be the one who freaks out; you're the lesbian," Buffy says.

"Not freakin'. This is me," Faith tells her. "Ain't doin' nothin' different, Twinkie."

But Buffy chose right then to brush her hand softly over Faith's arm and the brunette jumped a freakin' mile. Shit. Buffy looks a little upset. "Yeah," she says sarcastically, but softly. "Nothing different."

"I just had too much coffee this morning; I'm jumpy."

But Buffy tries again and Faith jumps… again. Buffy sighs, obviously really upset now. "Nevermind," she says, moving to walk away. Why the hell did she look like she was going to cry? What the fuck is going on?

"What do ya want, B?" Faith asks, annoyed, but can't help but to reach out and grab Buffy before she walks away all sad, pulling her back towards her. Buffy collides softly against her and Faith stiffens just as Buffy noticeably relaxes into her. She lays her head on her shoulder.

"Nothing," Buffy says quietly.

"You're gettin' girly on me."

Buffy scoffs, offended now, and she pushes herself away from Faith. "Fine, _sorry."_

Shit, this whole don't-hurt-Buffy plan isn't going well.

"Fuck, c'mere," Faith says in defeat as she grabs the older girl and pulls her back to her, this time wrapping her arms around her. Damnit, what the hell is she doing? Buffy relaxes back into her, her face buried in the crook of Faith's neck as she lets the younger girl hold her.

"Why are you being an asshole today?" Buffy asks quietly.

"I'm always an asshole."

"No, you're not," Buffy tells her, then moves her head so she can look up at Faith. "Look, I'm wigged out too. I'm really wigged. If there was a picture of 'wigged' in the dictionary, it'd be my face, okay? But I just… I like being near you. Just try not to think about it if it's freaking you out too. That's how I'm managing."

Faith sighs, but doesn't say anything. She can't just try not to think about it! All she can think about right now is how nice Buffy fits in her arms and how all of this is going to go to shit at some point. But her arms tighten their hold on Buffy and the blonde nuzzles her face in her neck, closing her eyes a little. Faith looks at her and she looks so… content. It makes Faith smile for a second… until she gets control over herself.

She is not going to get attached.

Just then the library doors open and Willow and Xander enter… arguing. Buffy jumps away from Faith so fast she almost trips, but steadies herself at the last minute. See? And this is why this is stupid.

"I can't believe you ditched first period, Xander Harris!" Willow scolds him. Uh oh, she looks mad.

"It's not my fault! Faith made me—" but then he notices Buffy in the room with Faith and switches to, "—uh, lose my sanity! She made me insane and so I skipped class!"

Great. That was believable. Only not.

Now Willow's glaring at Faith. "Why did you skip first period? I-I thought you were trying to raise your grades!"

Now _Buffy's _glaring at her. "You lied to me?"

Shit.

"I was there, I swear!" Faith lies quickly. No one believes her.

"If you didn't want to hang out with me you could have just said so," Buffy snaps, shoving her back against the counter hard before stomping across the room to the tables to sit down heavily in one of the chairs.

"That wasn't what I was—ugh!" It was so what she was trying to do. God damnit. Buffy looks upset again. Why can't she do anything right? This is too fuckin' complicated. "GILES!" she yells. Giles comes out of his office, taken aback by Faith's yelling and by the use of his full last name instead of just a letter.

"Faith, this is a library. I would appreciate if you kept your voice—"

"Let's just get this meeting over with," Faith snaps, interrupting him before she walks over to the tables and flops down heavily on a chair across from Buffy. Xander and Willow sit between them and Faith tries to ignore the blonde girl but she can feel her angry glare stab right through her.

Giles doesn't say anything about Faith's attitude, though he'll probably try to address it with her later. He takes a breath. "Okay… Buffy? Did you get any information from Angel?"

"Yeah," Buffy says, then tears her eyes away from Faith to look at Giles. "He said the only word he's heard about the Harvest is that it's going to happen in about a week."

"_About _a week?" Giles says, sounding disappointed. "Well, that's terribly non specific. Does he have any ideas on who the vessel may be?"

"Nope, that's all he knows. He said he's going to keep looking though."

Giles sighs. That didn't give them much more information. "Well, keep your ears open during patrol. Maybe you can overhear something useful."

"Already been trying to pry information out of the vamps I dust, but so far no one knows anything," Buffy tells him, looking at him apologetic.

"We still have about a week. Something is bound to turn up between now and then," Giles says, but doesn't sound too hopeful. Great, way to bring moral down a peg or two.

There's silence for a little while, so Faith asks, "Is that it? Can I go grab lunch now before someone eats all the damn meatballs this time?"

Giles sighs. "Yes, you all might as well go feed yourselves. We'll meet after school to train some more."

Excellent. Food.

Faith stands up quickly, about to make a run for it to the cafeteria, but then she stops and thinks about something. Wait a second… "Hold up, B."

Buffy stops (surprisingly) but turns around with a glare and her arms folded over her chest (not so surprisingly). Willow looks back to see what's going on but Xander steers her out of the library, which Faith is thankful for. She doesn't need an audience. "What? Going to give me a reason why you were avoiding me this morning?"

"No," Faith says, cause she's not. She's not even gonna try to. "I gotta question." Buffy rolls her eyes and turns to walk away but Faith asks, "When did ya see Angel?"

"Um, last night. Is your memory failing you already?" Buffy snaps.

"Before or after you saw me?"

"After, why?"

Oh, fuckin' really? Well then.

Faith looks at her annoyed and says, "So you're gonna bitch at me about lying to ya, when you fed me a bullshit story about having to get home to your mum? When, oh no, wait a minute, you actually came over to use my fuckin' shower so you could smell nice for your boyfriend?"

Bitch.

"I wasn't lying! I did need to get home to my mother!"

"Yet you stopped at stalker boy's house first. Whatever," Faith says, pushing past her and out the library doors. Buffy follows.

"What is it with you and Angel? You don't even know him!"

"I know enough," Faith snaps, still walking down the hall with Buffy following her.

"Are you jealous or something?!"

Faith rounds on her, making Buffy stop short so she doesn't run into her. "Ha! You're fuckin' jokin' right? Why the hell would I be jealous?"

"Because we… we're…" Buffy starts, though can't seem to find the words. She keeps pointing between them erratically though.

"We're nothin' B," Faith tells her flatly. "Me and you? We just kissed. Hardly a big fuckin' deal, okay? So no, I ain't jealous of that idiot. Now if you don't mind, I need to go get something to eat."

And with that she turns and walks away, knowing she's leaving Buffy standing there, probably looking devastated. She noticed the hurt look on her face when she said that, but she needed to make it clear what was going on between them. It's nothing that Buffy needs to throw a parade over. It's just… nothing.

Maybe she's being a bitch… but it's easier than the alternative.

**TBC…**


	19. Coming Out

_**A/N: Got alot of real life stuff going on this month, so updates probably won't be as frequent as you're used to. Sorry!**_

**CHAPTER NINETEEN  
****Coming Out**

Training could have gone… better.

Before they even got into the library, Buffy apparently decided it would be fun to come out of _freakin' nowhere, _drag her into an empty classroom, kiss her so hard she had Faith's head spinning… and then slap her across the face right after. Faith asked what the hell _that_ was for (she may or may not have tacked the word 'bitch' onto the end of that sentence by accident), but Buffy just told her that's what she fucking deserves and then proceeded to kick her ass all over the library twenty minutes later.

Yeah. Training could have gone better.

_Note to self: pissing off Slayers is not a great idea._

What was worse, while the next day they didn't speak to each other or barely look at each other (though Faith did end up getting her ass kicked all over the library_ again _after school), Willow ended up showing up at her door a couple hours later and pretty much tore her a new asshole. Well, in a Willow-like manner, anyway.

Willow didn't wait for Faith to answer the door after she knocked, which was fine by Faith as every inch of her body was hurting like hell and she wasn't looking to move anytime soon. She felt like a truck hit her, backed up, and then hit her again.

Faith looks up though as Willow closes the door behind her, not looking very happy. "What did you do to Buffy?" she asks her, sounding a little nervous about confronting Faith in this way but being strong enough to get through it. Faith winces as she shifts a little on her bed, trying to get more comfortable.

"Dunno what you're talkin' about, Red."

"Faith," Willow says, her face falling a little. "I-I'm your friend… why won't you just talk to me?" Faith doesn't say anything. She knows she hasn't been such a great friend to Willow lately, mainly because Willow has been getting along so well with Buffy; not that Faith doesn't want Buffy to have friends, but she didn't want to talk about shit and run the risk of Willow telling her.

Not that she really thinks Willow would do that but… still. It was just a thing. Willow went with Buffy and Xander stayed with her; separation, except not really because Xander and Willow still hung out all the time.

It made more sense in her head.

"Do you know that Buffy's been crying all day because of you?" Willow asks her, looking upset with her friend.

"Um, why?" Faith asks, looking confused. "It ain't like I broke her heart or nothin'. We didn't fuck; we haven't done shit."

"Y-You're stupid," Willow tells her, trying to be firm. Faith raises her eyebrows.

"I'm… what now?"

"Stupid!" Willow exclaims, then sighs. She crosses the room to sit on the edge of Faith's bed and looks down at the bruised girl. "Faith, you're my friend and I love you. And I know… w-what you do with a lot of women, so it's not like I'm really surprised. B-But Buffy is your friend and you're really messing with her."

"What the fuck? _How?_ I mean, I told her what it was that we were doin' and she's the one that made a big fuckin' deal over it!"

God. She didn't even fuck her and already this is a headache.

"She's coming out of the closet, Faith. That's… that's really hard for her; really emotional. A-And you ended up being her first gay crush and instead of being gentle with her you… you… well you took her first lesbian experience and made it a bad thing. She feels used. She _was _used," Willow tells her. Faith blinks, not used to Willow telling her exactly what the fuck is up without holding back.

"I didn't use her. Pretty sure ya gotta fuck someone to use 'em."

"No, you don't and yes you did. You… use everyone."

Oh my god, is this what Willow really fuckin' thinks of her? Why the hell hasn't she said this shit sooner? This is so fucked up. She didn't do anything wrong, here.

"Fuck you, Red. I do not! I mean yeah, okay, lots of bitches sure, but I wasn't fuckin' doin' that with B!" Faith defends.

"Then what were you doing?" she asks, like she doesn't believe her. Faith probably wouldn't believe her either. But she wasn't using her, god damnit.

If she's used anyone it would be Trish.

And Michelle.

And Joanne.

And… that redhead, Faith forgets her name.

Probably that Asian chick too. Aiko? Akako? Aki? Something. Whatever.

But she didn't use Buffy! She's not a complete fuckin' asshole.

"I was just…" Faith tries, but she can't exactly figure out what she wants to say. "I dunno… I just wanted to kiss her and so I did." She sighs, knowing that maybe she is one great big asshole. She puts her hands over her head as she slumps further into her bed, groaning. "I didn't fuckin' think, okay?"

"No, you didn't," Willow tell her, but sounds a little less mad than before Faith admitting she was wrong.

Faith stares at the ceiling for a little bit, not understanding why she feels guilty. She's always done this to women, right? She's had more girls fall for her than she can even begin to count. She breaks hearts, it's what she does. She doesn't mean to but sometimes it just happens and she ain't gonna go around blaming herself for it.

And yet right now she is.

She groans again, grabbing the covers and pulling them up over her head. God, it hurt to move. "Faith?" Willow asks, watching her retreat into solitude under the comforter. She pokes the lump that is her friend.

"Ow! Fuck, Red. I'm sore as hell here!"

"Sorry. Why are you hiding under the blankets? You… you never do stuff like this." She sounds almost curious, maybe even fascinated. Once again, Faith reiterates that Willow better not be studying her for her Psych course.

"Ya just don't fuckin' get what's been goin' on," Faith mumbles from underneath them.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Just go ask Xander."

"So you told him and you won't tell me?" Willow asks, hurt in her voice. God damnit, Faith can never win with these women! Why does she suddenly not want anyone to be upset with her? When, in God's fuckin' name, did she become such a large pile of mush? "I-I thought we were friends…"

Oh. Ouch. Sucker punch to the gut.

Faith sighs, but still doesn't come out from underneath the covers. She felt better in the darkness. "We are… I'm just… fucked in the head about some shit lately and ya know I suck at the whole sharin' your feelings bullshit. Bad enough I did it once."

Willow is silent for a minute, then pokes her again. Faith grumbles. "You really want me to ask Xander instead of just telling me yourself?"

"Yes," Faith says flatly.

"Fine," Willow says and pokes her again.

"Ow! Jesus Red!" Faith exclaims as she pushes the covers off of herself to glare at Willow. Does she got a sign over her head that says 'step on up – poke the bruised bitch' now? God damn.

"You should apologize to Buffy," Willow suggests in that way that really isn't a suggestion.

"And say _what _exactly? 'Hey sorry B, really wanted to get down and dirty with ya for a bit but apparently ya can't handle the goods?'" That earns her another poke… only it was in the form of a slap on her bruised leg. "MOTHER FUCKER!" Oh, she is _this_ close to hitting Willow back!

… Except she can't, because it's _Willow._

"F-Faith, can you stop being a pig, please?"

"I ain't bein' a pig, I was just sayin'! If ya got something better I should say than by all means have at it. Damn." Faith rubs her sore leg in annoyance. God, she's getting abused now.

"Maybe you could… you know…_ explain_ to Buffy h-how you have never had a relationship and that you… well that you're not looking for one." A beat. "You're not, right?"

"Of course I ain't! Like I need a fuckin' ball and chain to drag me any further down to hell," Faith snaps. Willow looks at her like that was a bit dramatic, but it's really not. The only relationship Faith ever witnessed was the one between her mother and father and well, that didn't give her a very positive view on them.

"Well then you can tell her that you're sorry that you gave the wrong impression."

"I didn't give the wrong impression though!" Faith protests.

"Faith," Willow says flatly, looking at her with her 'I mean business' face. "D-Did you, or did you not, kiss Buffy in this very room like 'something out of _The Princess Bride'_?"

Faith blinks. "… She said that?"

Willow nods. "And, I-I might be wrong Faith, but don't you usually kiss women like… l-like…" she tries to think, then says, "Okay, like… like Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon in _Bound."_ That makes Faith cock an eyebrow at her.

"You've seen _Bound?"_

Willow flushes. "I… i-it was for a character study a-and I just—"

Faith puts up her hand. "S'Cool. Was just surprised," another point in the 'Willow is a huge lesbo' column, "but I didn't kiss her like… I dunno. It wasn't romantic or nothin'."

Willow looks at her skeptically.

"I didn't! It was just a fuckin' kiss."

"One that apparently meant more than just… you," Willow blushes, "wanting to get her naked."

"Well I wasn't gonna scare the chick," Faith defends, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, she's my fr…" Faith trails off.

"Friend?" Willow finishes for her.

"Yeah, that." Even though that feels like a weird word to use when describing Buffy. She's not sure why.

Willow stares at her for a minute with that scrutinizing look that she sometimes uses that Faith hates because she feels like she's being put under a microscope. Then her eyes widen. "Aww Faith… do you… a-actually _like_ Buffy?"

"What? No! What is it with you and Xand? For fuck's sake, Red. I don't get down like that with no bitch." Faith rolls her eyes in annoyance and rolls over to the phone on her bedside table. Might as well get this over with.

"What are you doing?"

"Callin' her, what does it look like I'm doin'?" Faith asks, picking up the phone. Then she pauses. "Uh, do you have her number?"

Willow sighs but comes over to the phone to dial it for her. "You should invite her over… don't apologize over the phone."

"Why not?" Faith asks as she cradles the phone to her ear while it rings.

"Just do it," Willow tells her.

Faith grumbles something, but then the phone is answered by what Faith can only assume is Buffy's mother. "Uh, hi. Is B… I mean, Buffy there?" Her mother asks who's calling and she responds, "Faith."

She looks over at Willow who's giving her the 'you better do what I say' look as Buffy's mother goes to get Buffy on the line. "She ain't gonna come over; she's pissed at me," Faith tells her, putting her hand over the receiver.

"Yes she will."

"Whatever, she—uh, Buffy?" Faith asks as Buffy's voice floods through the other line. Damnit, why is she nervous?

"_What do you want, Faith?"_

Buffy doesn't sound very happy to hear from her and Faith picks at the comforter on her bed self consciously. "I uh… need to talk to you."

"_Well I don't want to talk to you."_

"B, this is important. Seriously. Can ya come over? Like… after patrol or something?" There's silence for a little while on the end of the line and Faith wonders if Buffy hung up on her.

"…_Why?"_

"Already told ya; I need to talk to ya. So… please?" Faith asks. There's no way Buffy's gonna come over here unless it's to kick her ass again.

More silence.

"…_Fine. I'll see you after midnight."_

"Okay, I'll—" but the line goes dead as Buffy hangs up on her and Faith sighs heavily as she hangs up the phone. Well, at least she's coming over. Though it might just be to kick her ass and her body seriously can't handle anymore beat downs.

"Is she coming over?" Willow asks.

"Yeah. After patrol," Faith says, slumping further into her bed. She needs like fifteen painkillers and some vodka. Well okay maybe not together, since that could end up makin' her six feet under.

Willow smiles. "See? I told you." She gets up off the bed and gives Faith a reassuring look. "Y-You'll do fine. Just be honest with her."

"Yeah, yeah…" Faith mumbles. God, she's never had to do this crap before in her life. Women she hurts… it just fuckin' happens and she walks away. It's easy. But she can't walk away from Buffy, so hence the big – and apparently violent (if her body is to be a judge) – problem.

This isn't going to be fun. No, this is going to be… awkward.

* * *

A knock interrupts Faith from her thoughts and she looks over at the door. She's not getting out of bed; everything still hurts. "Come in!" she yells, hoping she doesn't sound as nervous as she feels. She's never apologized for this type of shit before.

Buffy opens the door slowly, looking at Faith who's lying on the bed. She looks halfway between nervous too… and angry. Yeah, this probably won't go well. "You can't even open the door for me now?" Buffy asks as she comes inside, closing it behind her.

"Can't really move all that much, B. Ya kinda kicked my ass," Faith says, moving to sit up so she can talk to her properly, but she winces. Buffy's anger falters as she watches her.

"I… sorry," she says softly.

"S'fine. Had worse." No she hasn't.

Buffy takes a breath, looking at Faith for a minute before she folds her arms into herself. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah… I, uh…" Faith starts, though realizes she really isn't sure what she's supposed to say. She decides on, "I'm… sorry."

"For?" Buffy asks, her voice sounding scorned.

"For… bein' an asshole," Faith says. Yeah, that sounded about right. Faith runs her fingers through her hair before finishing, "I shouldn't have… ya know… led ya on, or whatever."

Buffy doesn't say anything for a moment, but looks really dejected now. She comes over and sits next to Faith on the bed heavily, looking at her hands. "So you… don't really like me?" she asks quietly.

"Nah, I mean, I do B, really. You're a cool chick and whatever but I just… I don't date. That's not my thing. I fuck then I leave, or I kick the bitch out," Faith tries to explain.

Buffy makes a face at that. "You… seriously do that to people?"

Faith shrugs. "Yeah."

Buffy's looking at her like she's a horrible person, making Faith look away from her because she really doesn't like how that makes her feel. "So you just… hurt people all the time?"

"No!" Faith exclaims, turning to look back at her. Why does everyone think she's some sort of huge bitch because of the way she has sex? "Look, I tell people up front the deal with me. I thought… I dunno, I guess I thought you already knew."

"Well I didn't."

"You do now then."

"Yeah… I guess I do," Buffy says quietly. She plays with her fingers a little bit as silence washes over the room again, making Faith feel more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. "Look, Faith... I…" Buffy starts, not making eye contact with her. "I wasn't trying to… be your girlfriend or anything. I mean, I'm completely _not _gay, you know? So that would be… really gay. Or something."

Faith rolls her eyes, sighing heavily. "B… you're gay."

She doesn't accuse her, doesn't taunt her. She just says it as it is, because she _is _gay and she needs to figure that shit out cause it's sort of ridiculous that she keeps denying it.

"No, I'm not," Buffy says, looking over at her quickly. "I'm really, really not! I mean I just… you know, kissed you because maybe I'm confused, or, I don't know, maybe it was just some kind of kiss fluke or something. I could be dehydrated, people always say that makes you do weird things and I just—"

Buffy's ramble is cut off sort but Faith's lips pressing against hers. Maybe it was to prove a point, or maybe it was to just shut her up, she didn't really know. Maybe it was just because Buffy looked so hot when she's freaking out. But whatever the reason is, Buffy responded to it immediately.

It was soft at first, but once Buffy's eyes fluttered closed at the feeling she kissed Faith more insistently, parting her lips to allow Faith's tongue to sneak past and explore the depths of her mouth. Buffy's need to get closer to the younger girl showed as she shifted a bit to kneel up on the leg she was sitting on previously, cupping Faith's neck as she kissed her deeper; more passionately, as she hovered over her.

Faith wasn't really expecting that, but she liked it all the same.

Faith runs her fingers through Buffy's hair and nips at her bottom lip, eliciting a small whimper from Buffy before she started attacking the brunette's mouth; the heat escalating between the two girls. Faith was panting softly against her lips after only a few moments and her mind was nowhere near PG anymore. But Buffy pulls back suddenly, looking her in the eyes as the two of them struggled to get their breathing under control.

Then Buffy's face changes.

It masks in distress and horror, her eyes going wide as she starts to break. "Oh god…" she whispers, sitting back down on the bed slowly. "Oh my god…"

"Buffy?" Faith asks cautiously.

"Oh my god… I'm…" she's struggling to say it, and her voice is shaking. "I'm _gay!"_ Buffy cries, finally realizing it. "I'm… I'm…" her voice is shaking along with her hands and she's staring at Faith in wide eyed horror.

…And then she starts crying.

Faith's eyes go wide, shocked by the sudden flow of tears. "B? Hey, hey, come on… don't cry…" Faith says, wrapping her arms around the blonde instinctively as she pulls her closer to her. Buffy buries her head in Faith's neck and sobs uncontrollably, holding onto her shirt like she's afraid to let go.

Damn, Willow wasn't kidding when she said this was emotional for her.

"Shh… B… come on, Buffy, it ain't the end of the world…" Faith tries to comfort her.

"It is!" Buffy cries, her voice slightly muffled by being in Faith's shirt. "I was… I was supposed to grow up, get married, h-have two kids with the… the white picket fence and the whole… _everything _and now I… now I…" she starts crying harder.

"Just cause you're gay… it don't mean you can't have those things," Faith tells her softly, stroking Buffy's hair to calm her down. Man, she didn't think she'd ever have to deal with something like this. She's so not the best person to deal with this sort of thing.

"You need a penis to reproduce, Faith!" Buffy practically screams through her sobs. Faith winces because she's so close to her ear.

"But they got like… sperm donors and shit, right? Or ya can adopt," Faith tries to reason.

"And what about my _wedding?"_ Buffy sobs, sinking lower against Faith as she holds onto her. She's practically buried in her cleavage now, which under any other circumstances would be a great thing but right now it's not really in the 'sexy' category seeing as Buffy's drowning her in tears. "I can't get married now!"

"Some states allow it, I think," Faith tells her, but Buffy doesn't want to listen to reason; she's upset.

"My perfect life is just… it's _over."_

Faith's not sure how perfect she was expecting her life to be seeing as she's a Slayer now and has the life expectancy of… well, of not very long. But Faith isn't going to say that out loud.

Buffy cries for a good twenty minutes, sinking lower and lower against Faith until she's curled in a ball in her bed, her head in the brunette's lap. After awhile her sobs turned into subtle sniffs every couple of seconds as she calms down; Faith just let's her lay there, stroking her hair, with a little frown on her face.

She hates seeing Buffy cry. It hurts things inside of her.

"You okay?" Faith asks quietly after it seemed like the worst was over. She tucks a piece of blonde hair behind Buffy's ear before stroking her cheek.

"I don't know," Buffy whispers, her voice sounding hoarse from all the crying she did. She's just staring at the wall as silent tears fall down her cheeks. Faith wipes one away, but as she goes to put her hand back down Buffy grabs it, lacing their fingers together and bringing it closer to her. Faith lets her because she doesn't know what else to do. She doesn't know how she's supposed to act in a situation like this.

There's silence for a little while; the only thing being heard in the room is the pathetic sniffles that Buffy emits every once in awhile. Finally she takes a shaky breath and looks up at Faith. "Can I… stay here tonight?" Faith doesn't say anything for a moment so Buffy tells her, "I just… I don't want to be alone right now…"

"Yeah," Faith says, not being able to find it in herself to tell a crying Buffy no. "Yeah… s'cool…"

Buffy nods a little before slowly picking herself up. She moves to the head of the bed, next to Faith, before sliding under the covers. It's late and they have school in the morning so Faith reaches over and turns off the light before settling into bed. God, this was going to be awkward.

She's never slept with a single person in her life. Ever.

But Buffy's really upset and she isn't gonna just kick her out when she's like that so she lays her head on her pillow as Buffy cuddles up next to her, lying her head on Faith's chest. She wraps an arm around her torso and Faith freezes for a second, not really sure she's down with all the touchy feeliness that's going on right now. But she can hear Buffy softly start to cry again so Faith lets it go, running her hand down Buffy's back.

"Just go to sleep, B," she whispers.

Buffy nods, snuggling into Faith more before she closes her eyes. It's weird for Faith; having someone pressed up against her while she's trying to sleep… but it wasn't horrible, though maybe because Buffy wasn't overly smothering her by laying half on top of her or anything. Faith really isn't sure, but it doesn't matter anymore anyway. She's letting her stay and so she's not gonna be a huge bitch by pushing her away when she's really upset.

Faith closes her eyes, finding that she kinda enjoys the feeling of the girl next to her, and even though she never thought she'd be able to go to bed like this, somehow she found herself drifting off to sleep quickly.

**TBC…**


	20. There Is No Cause for Alarm

**CHAPTER TWENTY  
****There Is No Cause for Alarm**

Faith woke up with someone on top of her… and freaked the hell out.

"Who the fuck…? Get off me!" Faith mumbles half awake, pushing at the unconscious girl that's on her. She feels like she's suffocating. "You already got your rocks off now get the hell out!" she exclaims, still pushing at the unconscious figure who's sleepily protesting as she becomes aware of the waking world. Who the fuck has the nerve to think they can… _cuddle with her?!_ Do she look like a fuckin' stuffed animal?!

"…What?" comes the annoyed, half-awake reply. A hand connects with Faith's skin as she slaps her, trying to make her stop attempting to shove her away. "Quit pushing me!" yells… Buffy?

"B?!" Faith asks, surprised, sitting up and pushing herself back so fast she misjudges the distance to the edge of the bed and ends up falling backwards out of it, sheets getting tangled around her as she lands unceremoniously on the floor. "Ow! Fuck!" Jesus, this is so not a way to wake up. Faith groans in pain as Buffy yawns and looks down at her on the floor, squinting a bit from her sleepiness.

"Are you okay?" she asks, pushing some blonde hair out of her face to witness Faith in a tangled heap on the floor. She looks at the younger girl's disheveled appearance and purses her lips together to try not to laugh at her.

"Peachy," Faith says dryly, and then winces at the pain in her back. She's going to need to see a chiropractor soon with all the beatings her body has been taking lately. She remembers Buffy staying over now that her mind has been cleared by that little jolt back into reality, but _shit_ she's just not used to crap like this! Sleeping in the same bed with someone should be eased into, and this was… not. Obviously. Buffy was lying on_ top_ of her for shit's sake! She is _not_ a human pillow, damnit.

"Do you… need help?" Buffy asks carefully, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She's smirking though, trying not to giggle at Faith's predicament.

"S'fine. I got it," Faith mumbles as she picks herself off the floor, untangling the sheets from her body. Fuck the morning. She looks at the clock and groans again; fuck, she's still got at least another hour till she has to wake up for school. She climbs back in her bed and throws the covers over her, still making little sounds of annoyances.

Yeah, she's grumpy now. Can ya blame her?

Buffy moves back over to give her space; looking at her like she actually expects a coherent thought from Faith this early in the morning. She doesn't look at her or say anything though so Buffy eventually settles back into bed, hugging one of Faith's pillows close to her chest. Faith closes her eyes, trying to block out Buffy being there. It's weird though; having someone so close to her when she's vulnerable, because that's what she is when she's sleeping: vulnerable. It's a weakness and not one that she usually shows people. But she's dealing… she's gotta. She's apparently been a complete ass to Buffy the last couple days and she really needs to try to control that. But it's hard because she's just…

No, she's not even going to admit the 'S' word in her head right now, that's too messed up. It's also way too early for deep thoughts.

"Faith?" Buffy asks softly, pulling the covers up to her chin and looking at the younger girl.

Faith debates on not saying anything for a moment, but it's not like Buffy doesn't know that she's already awake. She sighs a little before she replies, "…Yeah?"

Buffy shifts a bit on the bed, getting closer to her. Faith freezes; not daring to move an inch. This girl has no concept of personal space. "Can I ask you something?" she whispers.

That's playing in dangerous territory but Faith turns around to look at her, seeing the outline of Buffy's face in the darkness of the room. "Can't guarantee an answer, but… yeah," Faith whispers back, her voice husky from the morning.

Buffy takes a breath and Faith can feel the blonde's hand brush lightly across her arm. It seems accidental, so Faith doesn't say anything about it. "Have you ever… been with a man?"

Faith's jaw locks up and she doesn't say anything for a long time. She's not answering that, but she's trying not to scream and beat the crap out of her too. Buffy seems to sense that though because she goes on quickly, "You don't… have to tell me, I guess it's not important I just… I wanted to know if you ever… well I guess I just wanted to know if it's normal… how I felt… after I did it…" Buffy whispers softly, pausing every so often like she's not sure if she should be talking. She looks down at the sheets.

"What are ya talkin' about?" Faith asks quietly. Isn't Buffy a virgin, or did she just assume that? She coulda swore she is though. Maybe she should pay attention more.

Buffy looks down and her hand brushes over Faith's arm again, eliciting goosebumps on the brunette. Okay, the touching doesn't seem like much of an accident anymore. "When I was… with Scott…" she starts slowly, watching her fingertips dance along Faith's skin, "I mean, I guess I wasn't expecting for it to be fantastic because it was both of our first times but I… I don't know, I guess I was hoping I would… like it. But I didn't. It was… awkward and he was…" she blushes a little, "hard and hairy and it was… gross. I don't know. And I just… I mean, I guess that might be the whole lesbian thing but… I can't help but wonder if maybe I just… don't like sex or something; like it's some kind of weird mental deficiency or…"

"Ya ain't got a mental issue, B," Faith tells her softly. She shifts a little on the bed, trying to move her arm a little further away from Buffy's touch. "Fuckin' promise ya that. Feelin' that way's… normal," she finishes. At least it had happened to her. After that… _incident,_ she didn't think she'd ever want to be intimate with anyone. So she gets it… but she ain't doin' share and care time right now; least not when it comes to herself.

"But what if it's true?" Buffy asks, looking like she feels like she's a freak or something.

Okay, looks like Faith isn't gonna be going back to sleep before school. She sighs and rolls over on her side completely, propping her head up on her hand, looking at the girl next to her. "Alright, well lemme ask ya somethin'."

"Okay…"

"When ya diddle yourself at night, ya like it, right?" Faith asks bluntly.

"FAITH!" Buffy exclaims, horrified as she scoots away from her and clutches the covers to her chest like her virtue has been compromised by that one sentence. Faith smirks.

"I'm serious, B. I mean, if ya like that, if ya can get yourself off, then I'm pretty sure you're gonna like it when some chick fucks the hell outta ya."

Buffy's face has turned from pink to magenta to bright tomato red all in the span of about thirty seconds. "I… well… I mean I…. what if I don't… _do _that?"

Faith laughs; that's fuckin' funny. "Please girlfriend, everyone does the nasty to themselves every once in awhile." It's human nature to need a release.

"Well no one _talks_ about it!" Buffy protests, then groans and pulls the covers over her head to hide from Faith, who's still smirking at her behavior.

Faith licks her bottom lip as she smiles, looking at the embarrassed girl in her bed. She knows she shouldn't press the issue, but she can't help it. "So do ya?" she asks.

"What?" Buffy mumbles under the covers.

"Like it."

Buffy throws the covers off of her, looking annoyed. "Oh shut _up!"_ she exclaims before she starts slapping Faith like a twelve year old; both hands, hardly connecting, but with force to actually make it irritating.

"Hey!" Faith exclaims, startled as she tries to fend her off. She's not hitting hard, but that's really not the point. She's getting attacked in her own bed now! "Stop wackin' me! Shit!" She starts slapping her back, feeling like a damn kid, but hey, Buffy started it!

"You're such a _perv!"_ Buffy says, but she's giggling a little now as she has Faith backed up to the edge of the bed during their little slap fight. Faith yells another, "Quit!" and grabs one of Buffy's wrists, but Buffy wiggles out of it before grabbing both of Faith's and pinning her down, hovering over her.

"Pervert," she says with a grin.

"Masturbator," Faith shoots back with a smirk.

"Oh you should talk."

"Hey, never said I was innocent, Princess," Faith replies with a grin, but then suddenly is very aware of their position. Buffy's half on top of her, pressing her body parts on areas that Faith really needs her to stay away from if she's supposed to stop sending mixed signals and pissin' people off. "Uh… B? Ya wanna get off me?"

"Oh… yeah, sorry," Buffy says, blushing a little as she rolls off of her. Not all the way though – she's practically still on top of Faith, and she lays her head on the younger girl's shoulder. Buffy settles into her; her breath on her neck, her hair tickling her shoulder and yeah, okay, space is needed… _now._

Faith gets up quickly, making Buffy tumble off of her. She runs a hand through her hair as she sits on the edge of the bed, taking a breath. She doesn't know how to deal with all of this. She feels Buffy shift on the bed behind her as she sits up. "Are you okay?" she asks. Faith doesn't say anything for a moment so Buffy puts her hand on her shoulder, "Faith?"

"Fine. I just…" Faith starts, then sighs, shaking Buffy's hand off her. Okay, she needs to be clear. Willow will have her head if she's not. Hell, there will be way more drama if she's not, and they really don't need any more drama. "Buffy we're… friends. That's it… okay?" She looks at the far wall as she says it, not wanting to see the look on the blonde's face.

"I know, I was just—"

"Gettin' cuddly," Faith finishes, still without looking at her. Buffy swallows and looks at her for a moment. Faith finds herself holding her breath as the silence passes between them. Finally she feels Buffy crawling over and sitting next to her, dangling her feet off the edge of the bed.

"Look, I wasn't—" Buffy starts, her voice a little shaky; she's nervous.

"You were," Faith says softly. She turns to look at her and Buffy look's a little upset; her eyebrows are furrowed together and she looks torn between wanting to come closer to Faith or just stay away. "B, it's not that I don't like you, I do. Okay?" Faith tells her honestly. "But I ain't that girl; I ain't gonna be your first lesbian relationship, I just don't work that way. I mean I… what I'm good at? Fuckin', that's it. And I could do that but I know it'll just hurt ya and… I try not to hurt my friends. Okay?"

Buffy chews a little on her bottom lip a little, looking down before she nods. "Okay… that's… it's fine," she says softly. She doesn't sound very fine. But she looks up and puts on a fake smile and a nonchalant shrug as she goes on, "I didn't really think that you… well…" her smile falters and she looks upset again. She bites on her lip hard before she sighs, standing up. "I'm going to take a shower," she finishes before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her without allowing Faith to say anything.

Fuck. Well that went… decent, maybe. Faith runs her fingers through her hair again and sighs, looking out the window. She hates that she's the one that makes Buffy look like that; the one that makes her run away. This is better though; this is… good. She does… care about her, fuckin' obviously, friend and all that so… she can't hurt her intentionally. That'd just be fucked up. And if she fucks her, no matter how much fun it would be… she'd just end up breaking her heart and she…

She can't do that. She won't be the person to hurt Buffy. Maybe yeah, a couple months ago Faith would have been; just hurt her because she was part of the group of popular kids. Hell, she did it with Harmony. But she's gotten to know Buffy now; she's sweet and she has a good heart but she's aiming it in the completely wrong direction. Faith doesn't love, she doesn't care and coddle… she hurts; uses and abuses then tosses people away like trash. Buffy isn't trash so she can't… she just can't be involved with her.

Buffy deserves a chick who's gonna take her on dates and buy her flowers and junk like that, and Faith doesn't know the first thing about all that. Faith is a physical person and Buffy is an emotional one.

So this is better. This is good... hopefully.

* * *

It's been three days and Buffy has barely even looked at Faith. Oh, she'll _talk _to her though, she'll be all smiles and happiness at school and down to business when they're in the library doing Slayer stuff but she can't make eye contact. It's starting to bother Faith but she knows she just needs to give Buffy time to get used to the arrangement. Shouldn't take too long though, seeing as they never got naked and sweaty together so it's not like Buffy's gonna be mourning the loss of all the amazing sex or anything. She's getting a little better though, slowly. Today she looked at her in the eye for a whole thirty seconds; progress.

Not by much though.

It's Friday night though and she really needs to get away from all the drama so she ends up finding herself at The Bronze. There should really be more places to hang out in this town, but it's small and lame… unless you count the Hellmouth it's sitting on that some old ass vampire is trying to fuck with.

Buffy and Giles have been freaking out about the Master and the Harvest but they haven't been able to figure out when exactly it's going to happen and time is running out. It's been six days since they heard it was happening in about a week and the only other information they came up with, was that the Harvest happens once every century (thought the book, of course conveniently left out the date) and that the Vessle will be sportin' something that kinda reminds Faith of the Star Trek symbol. Either way, they basically got nothing.

Willow has been helping them out with the research thing, doing her internet deal, but Faith and Xander didn't seem very needed. They had already combed through all the books and Giles was starting to get frustrated. He sent Buffy to get Angel, have them all 'convene', but Faith didn't want to be around for that, or more specifically didn't want to be around _him._

Not cause of jealousy. It's not even about that anymore. Faith's pretty damn sure that she's the one Buffy wants, especially now since she came out of the closet (at least to her, anyway), but she's been such a complete dick about the guy that she's kind of formed a comfort with it. She still doesn't trust him, she doesn't _know _him, and she's really not looking to make anymore friends.

So she took off with Xander, told Giles to call The Bronze if he needs them, and they left. Giles seemed happy to get rid of them, but probably because their nervous sarcastic comments weren't helping any. But fuck, what else was she supposed to do? She barely knows how to turn on a computer, much less use one, so helping Willow was out. Buffy was training, _seriously _training, and Faith can't keep up with her when she gets into complete Slayer mode. So fuck it, if the world ends, they're just gonna have to call her to give her a heads up.

Faith dragged Xander to the dance floor once they got there, just needing to burn off some energy. Xander isn't really the best dancing partner, mainly because the way Faith dances tends to get him distracted and fumbly and nervous, but it's still amusing to watch. He tried to keep up though, and she has to give him props for being able to control his forthcoming erection the way she ground on him… at least for a little while. Eventually he did back off from her though, mumble something about needing some water and ran off.

Faith smirks as she watches him go, knowing that was going to happen. She runs her fingers through her hair and saunters over to the bar, sliding into one of the stools. Trish looks up and gives her a sexy smirk, but Faith only half returns it. She's not going to be fucking her tonight; that's for sure. She orders herself a beer though sips it slowly as she waits for Xander to come back and mumble some bullshit excuse about why he left in such a hurry.

Faith sees him come out of the restroom, but is jolted forward when some clumsy idiot hits the back of her seat. "Ya wanna fuckin' watch it, twinkle toes?!" Faith yells, turning around to look at who just slammed into her. Cordelia returns her look with wide eyes, her snappy retort held back.

The popular girl turns and snaps at one of her minions instead, "Watch where you're going, queen size! These are four hundred dollar shoes and I don't need your fat ass stomping all over them!"

The girl who apparently accidently pushed Cordelia into Faith bursts out in tears from being called fat (which she wasn't, not even in the slightest) and she runs off, probably to develop an eating disorder. Cordelia tries like hell not to notice that Faith's staring at her with her eyebrow raised.

"Sup Queen C?" She knows she's fucking with the boundaries, but this could be fun. Apparently Buffy scared her so badly that she doesn't wanna even look at her. Cordelia ignores her, trying to walk away but there's too many people crowded around the bar and she can't get far. "Hey! Pretty sure I was talkin' to you!"

Cordelia takes a breath and turns around, scowling at her. _"What?"_

"Can't say hi now?" Faith asks with a little taunting smile before she brings the beer up to her lips and takes a nice, long sip.

"Drop the bitchy intimidation act, Faith. I do it so much better than you," Cordelia snaps. She looks around, "Where's your psycho of a girlfriend? You give her a STD yet?"

"I'd watch the way ya talk to me, C. Wouldn't want my 'psycho girlfriend' to do another demonstration act on ya, would you?" Faith smirks as she see's Cordelia's face noticeably pale a little.

"Sorry, I was just—" Xander starts as he pushes his way through the crowd to get to Faith. Then he notices Cordelia. "Is there a fight going on? Because I thought we were supposed to be relaxing." He's looking between the two girls nervously.

"No fight," Faith replies, taking another sip of her beer before she leans in to Cordelia. "So what'd she say to freak ya out like that, luv?"

"She didn't freak me out! But the girl isa complete mental case, I can't believe I was ever _friends_ with that…" she pauses, and Faith knew she was about to say something derogatory but apparently thinks better of it and finishes, "girl." Faith chuckles a little and the crowd starts to disperse around them a little so Cordelia starts to back up to leave.

"Ya don't wanna stay and hang?" Faith taunts, but Cordelia just turns around and flips her the finger over her shoulder before walking away, leaving Faith there laughing. She turns to Xander, "Man, that was fun."

"You find some sick kind of pleasure in stuff like that, don't you?" Xander asks, studying her. Faith just grins at him and he shakes his head. "You scare me sometimes," but he's smirking a little bit.

"Scare myself sometimes, but I still have my fun," Faith replies with a wink as she downs the rest of her beer. She places the empty bottle on the bar and is about to yell to Trish for another one before the whole club is consumed by darkness. "What the fuck?" Faith yells, along with the rest of the crowd who's voicing their disapproval.

"Maybe they didn't pay their electric bill," Xander jokes.

But then one, singular light shines on stage, outlining the figure of a man. Faith stands up, the feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad is about to happen arising quickly. "Ladies and gentlemen," the voice boomed through the club. "There is no cause for alarm." Something about that statement didn't make her feel anymore at ease. "Actually," he states, with an amused tone. "There is cause for alarm…" he steps forward, the light now fully illuminating him, "it just won't do any good."

"Xander," Faith says softly as she looks at the vampire on stage. People started screaming, backing up away from him as far as they could get. "Get to a phone and call Buffy… _now!"_

**TBC…**


	21. The Harvest

**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE  
****The Harvest**

"This is a glorious night!" the big, ugly vampire on stage announces with a smile on his face. He looks around at all the terrified faces and tells them, "It is also the last one any of you will ever see." More people screamed, trying to run but vampires were suddenly coming out of the freakin' woodwork, surrounding all the humans like herding cattle.

"Xander, go _now," _Faith whispers, pushing him towards the back of the club where the pay phone is. He nods silently and slips through the crowd as Faith bends down and gets the stake she has strapped to her leg. Maybe it's a good thing Buffy told her to carry these now. She slips it in her jacket sleeve, hiding it from view as she tries to get closer. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she hopes to fuck that Buffy can get here.

Of course the Harvest would happen here. How could they be so stupid? Big place, lots of people to eat… shit. She needs to figure out what the hell her plan is. Don't die would be number one – and while she can fight and _maybe _stake a couple if she's lucky, there's no way she'd be able to get them all without ending up dead; there're just too many.

"Bring me the first," the vampire says, presumably the Vessel. Faith finds herself getting shoved into the crowd as the vampires herd them onto the dance floor.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?! Get your damn hands off me—!" Faith hears Cordelia yell to one of them… until she gets a look at their face. She screams and is shoved into Faith, who doesn't try very hard to catch her. She's got bigger issues to deal with than Miss Popularity's fears.

"What are you doing? Huh? You want money? Hey! HEY!"

Faith looks up and sees the bouncer, Jimmy, getting pushed on stage, arms held behind his back as he's steered towards the Vessel. "What the hell is wrong with your face, dude?!" he asks, but he's cut off by the Vessel grabbing his throat and pulling him forward. Faith slides the stake out of her jacket pocket, backing up through the crowd. She knows there's no way she can save him, but she's gonna try to take out some of these mother fuckers at least.

"Watch me, people," the Vessel says, his booming voice still echoing over the screams from the crowd. He seems to stroke Jimmy, ushering him closer. "Fear is like an elixir… it's almost like blood…" he seems to get off on terrifying everyone around him; he smiles before lowering his fangs into Jimmy, who screams only once before taking his dying breath.

Faith finally finds herself in the back of the crowd, near the corner, there's only one vampire herding the people there. She feigns fear (which isn't very hard, she's fuckin' terrified, but she's also not gonna lay down and take this shit), backing up into him. She turns and screams, making the vampire grin at her fear and snarl. He pushes her back into the crowd, expecting her to just cower, but instead her face masks in determination and a smirk passes along her lips before she drives the stake through his chest. He looks surprised; for not realizing that she isn't just another stupid human, before he turns to dust. No one seems to notice besides a couple of people near Faith who continue screaming.

"Shut the fuck up," she hisses; she doesn't need attention brought to the situation. She knows she just got lucky, that the vampire she chose was kind of an idiot, and she doubts she'll be able to get a chance like that again but she's gotta try. If she can stake them before they realize she's a threat then she might actually make it outta this place alive.

The Vessel throws Jimmy's lifeless body to the ground before requesting casually, "Next." Faith looks up as she hears a familiar scream, though usually when she hears it it's not in fear. Trish is being dragged on stage; screaming, begging, pleading for her life.

"NO!" Faith screams, pushing her way through the crowd to try to get to the stage. She knows it's a stupid move, but she's not gonna let her friend die if she can help it. Some of the vampires notice her running through the crowd and seem to find it amusing, but they don't find the funny anymore once she took the first that confronted her with an uppercut to the jaw, a spin around to elbow it in the face and then a stake driven home.

"GET HER!" a blonde vampire cries and Faith finds herself trying to fight off three of them at once, but it's no use; they're all so much stronger than her. One of them grabs her arms, twisting them behind her back, making her drop the stake, effectively pinning her as Faith thrashes around, trying to get loose.

"Let me go, you stupid mother fucker!" she spits out, but she knows there's no way she's going to get out of a hold this strong. She winces and cries out a little as the vampire increases its grip on her, almost popping her shoulder out of place. "FUCK!"

"Mmm…" the blonde vampire says, coming up to Faith, who's still trying to get loose. "This one has strength… The Master will relish in her blood. Put her in line," she orders.

"FUCK YOU!" Faith screams as she feels herself getting hauled backwards into the line of humans waiting to be slaughtered. "I'm gonna fuckin' feed all of you your fuckin' eyes! LET ME GO YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

But she hears another scream on stage as the Vessel finally sinks his teeth into Trish. Faith can hear herself screaming but she can't make out the words she's saying. She can barely move and yet she still keeps trying, needing to get up there to save her. But she watches Trish get paler, her screams dying in her throat… and then she watches the Vessel toss her lifeless body to the side like it was _nothing._

"XANDER!" she screams, her eyes searching the crowd for him but she can't see him anywhere. She feels herself getting pushed up in line as the next victim gets hauled on stage. "LET GO OF ME, you fuckin' hunk of rotting _meat!"_ she screams to the vampire that's still holding her, but she doesn't know why she's trying anymore. It's not like he's gonna change his mind and go, 'Oh sure, here ya go. Go kill some of my friends.'

Highly fucking unlikely.

"I feel the Master's strength growing," the Vessel booms out as he tosses another lifeless body onto the pile. This fucker sure does seem to like to talk a lot. "I feel him rising! Every soul… brings him closer…" he grins at the crowd victoriously, who shrink back in fear. Faith's still trying to fight off her vampire, but nothing's working; his grip is iron clad. The Vessel turns and orders, "I need another!"

Faith watches as Cordelia Chase gets hauled on stage, screaming. "Tonight," the Vessel goes on, apparently feeling the need to announce everything, "is his ascension. Tonight will be history at its end!" he grabs Cordelia who's crying, begging now, and strokes her hair, smiling with his wicked grin.

"No, please… please…" Cordelia cries, looking terrified.

"HEY!" Faith screams, though she has no idea why the hell she's actually trying to stop Cordelia from being eaten. Maybe cause she's already seen one person she knows die tonight, and she really ain't lookin' for another. She's terrified like fuck, but she's still one brave bitch. "DICKWAD! Ya wanna fuckin' maybe eat somethin' that ain't gonna make your Master a pathetic Momma's boy?"

The Vessel turns to look at what caused the disruption during his little ritual and sees Faith struggling against the vampire that holds her. He grins and asks her, "Are you volunteering?"

No. Not in so many words. Okay, maybe she should have thought this plan through better.

The Vessel throws Cordelia backwards and she scrambles to her feet, running as he starts advancing on Faith. Fuck. But suddenly, out of frickin' nowhere, a body flies down from the ceiling, landing on the floor in a heap. The Vessel turns, snarling, as the vampire that just got thrown off of the overhead tries to get up off the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry," comes a voice from the balcony and Faith looks up, feeling a wave of relief as she sees Buffy casually leaning over the railing, looking down at them. "Was I interrupting something? Is this a bad time?"

"Slayer…" the Vessel growls, completely forgetting Faith.

"The one and only," Buffy says with a little smile. "You don't mind that I'm crashing your party, right?" She cocks her head to the side and does the whole dumb blonde act.

"I will enjoy feasting on your blood," the Vessel snarls, advancing towards the edge of the stage.

"Well in that case, I'll be right down," Buffy says with her little perky attitude before she flips nicely over the railing, landing on the pool table. Damn, Faith didn't know she could do that. One stupid vampire snarls and charges at her, but she barely gives it a glance as she picks up the pool stick and shoves it right in his chest, disintegrating him.

The Vessel and Buffy are bantering, but Faith doesn't notice because all of a sudden the vampire behind her is turned to dust and she whips around, surprised to see Xander standing there, looking shocked that he actually was able to sneak up on it. "Oh thank god," Faith says as she sees him, glad he isn't dead.

"Xander to the rescue," he quips, but his voice is shaking from nervousness. She tries to give him a small smile of encouragement but she's sure it came out more like a grimace. She turns to Buffy.

"B! Need a weapon!" she yells, not about to leave Xander defenseless. Buffy shoots her a look but pulls another stake out from her jacket and throws it at her before flipping onto the stage to confront the Vessel. Faith catches it easily and turns, finding the blonde vampire coming at her fast. She dodges her at first, delivering a kick to her sternum before she finds herself getting backhanded across the club.

"Xander!" she yells, but Xander's busy trying to fight off another one, and she coughs as she picks herself off the ground quickly as the blonde continues to advance.

"You look absolutely delicious," the blonde coos, licking her bottom lip. Faith backs up, gripping her stake hard.

"Yeah, well I get that a lot," Faith retorts, trying to keep her voice relatively stable. "And what's with your getup? You into a little kink, baby? Schoolgirl don't seem like your thing; think bondage would look a lot better on ya." That ain't no lie either; for being dead, the bitch is surprisingly wicked hot.

"What makes you think I haven't already done that?" she asks with a wicked grin before she launches herself at the brunette. Her hand wraps around Faith's throat and she chokes, feeling her air get cut off. She raises her fist and punches her clean across the jaw, making the blonde stumble back and lick the blood from the cut on her lip. Faith's gasping for air though and it makes her less aware of what's going on, and suddenly she's flat on her back, the blonde hovering over her, pinning her down.

"Mmm… you're such a pretty thing," she says, looking at Faith like she's a mouth watering snack, which, Faith guesses is accurate. She tries to struggle but the girl is strong and she can't move.

"Never got any complaints," Faith retorts, but she knows the vampire can see the fear in her eyes. She tries to push against her but can barely move an inch.

"You'd made such a fine pet," she purrs. "Your strength…" she leans down, fangs barely an inch from Faith's neck before she whispers, "I could play with you all night long. You'd make a better child than my last, I can tell…"

Fuck, is this bitch about to turn her? HELL NO! She's _not _gonna end up like this undead cunt!

"I AIN'T GONNA BE YOUR FUCKIN' PET, BITCH!" Faith screams, trying to fend her off but she knows she's about to die in about thirty seconds.

"FAITH!" she hears Buffy scream from the stage as she looks at Faith's predicament on the ground. Her face is filled with fear, but worrying about Faith ends up costing her because the Vessel punches her clean across the jaw, sending her sprawling.

"BUFFY!" Faith screams, her eyes wide in fear as she sees her land hard on her back.

"DARLA!" Shouts another voice, a male one.

The blonde, Darla, looks up from Faith to see Angel fighting his way over to them. "Speaking of," she purrs, but doesn't have a chance to get up because all of a sudden she's sprayed in the face with holy water. She screams as her skin sizzles and Faith looks up in surprised because she knew Angel still wasn't close enough to do that. She's met with the site of Willow standing over her, looking terrified as Giles runs in behind her.

Darla runs, her skin still sizzling as she makes her way out the door and Angel hurries over, holding his hand up to Faith to help her up. She takes it and allows him to pull her to her feet, but doesn't pay much attention to him after that because she looks up at the stage and notices that Buffy's about a minute away from being killed. She's always a wave of fury and precision but she seemed distracted this time, and Faith's pretty damn sure it's over worrying about her.

She feels her feet carrying her quickly to the stage, trying to divert the attention off of Buffy. "Hey pencil dick!" she screams. Her plan of diverting the attention away from Buffy seems to work a little _too_ well though and as she comes at him she can't even get in one shot before she's grabbed around the throat and pulled towards him.

"NO!" Buffy screams, getting to her feet, fear radiating off every inch of her as she watches Faith struggle to breathe. Okay, so as far as being a distraction for Buffy, Faith just made it ten times worse. Fuck.

"This one…" the Vessel snarls as he looks Faith over and then back over at Buffy's terrified look. "She's important to you."

"You want blood? Have mine!" Buffy screams, though it sounds too much like begging. Faith gasps for air as his grip tightens and she closes her eyes as her head starts to spin from the lack of oxygen. "This is between you and me, leave her alone!"

Apparently she tries to come forward though because the Vessel snarls, "One more step and I'll snap her neck like a twig."

Fuck, Buffy better not move.

But then there's a crash and she's dropped to the ground, gasping for air. She looks up and see's Angel standing there with the remnants of a drum in his hand after he hit the Vessel in the head with it. Buffy doesn't wastes any time as she launches herself at him. All Faith can do is watch and struggle to regulate her breathing while they fight. They both move so fast it's hard to tell when one moves ends and another begins. Buffy is sent sprawling again and Angel launches himself at the Vessel this time, and Faith swears she must be loopy from the lack of oxygen because it looked like Angel's face changed, just like a vamp. He gets him in a chokehold, snarling before Buffy attacks. She's furious now and Faith can still can barely distinguish the first move from the last but she does see the final blow; driving the stake home while a quippy comment leaves her lips.

The Vessel becomes nothing but dust.

The vampires, once they see that the Vessel has been defeated, start to scatter; running out of the club. "Faith, are you alright?!" Buffy asks, kneeling down at Faith's side, looking like she's going to pass out by what she's looking at. Faith knows she feels like a bag of shit, but she can't look _that _bad, can she?

She's still looking at Angel though, her eyes wide as she realizes that his face isn't due to her lack of oxygen. She sees him slip back into his normal face and she screams, "B! He's a fuckin' vamp!"

"I know, just calm down—"

"What do you mean _calm down?!_ Did you not fuckin' hear what I said?" Faith screams, though her voice is horse from all the vampires that choked her out tonight. She coughs, and then realizes one of her ribs must be fractured because pain shoots through her side and she groans.

"He's not going to hurt us," Buffy tells her, trying to calm her down. "And stop moving! That could be broken!" She tries to put her hands on Faith to hold her still, but Faith is still in the realm of 'why the fuck would B trust a fuckin' vampire?' and is struggling against her.

"Are you _insane?!"_ she screams.

"Faith! Are you alright?" Giles asks, coming up on stage, worry crossing his features.

"ANGEL'S A FUCKING VAMPIRE!"

Giles looks up, startled.

"With a soul!" Buffy protests as Xander and Willow catch up to them.

"I won't hurt you," Angel says calmly, holding up his hand to signify surrender, but that's not helping matters any.

"The hell you won't!" Faith screams.

"Faith! He just saved your life!" Buffy yells, reminding her. That makes Faith stop; she's right. Twice, actually. Still, he might be on some kind of fuckin' crusader type bullshit but that still doesn't mean he ain't gonna snap and try to bite their heads off.

"Angel?" Giles asks, looking at him wearily.

"Y-You're a… vampire?" Willow asks, looking halfway between scared and intrigued. Jesus.

"Guys! Will you just stop!" Buffy yells. "He's okay; he was cursed by gypsies or something. Angel isn't the issue here – Faith's hurt!"

"I'm fuckin' fine!" Faith snaps, pushing Buffy off of her. She struggles to get to her feet, her whole body hurting like fuck, but she manages. She stumbles back behind Giles.

"Gypsies?" Giles asks, like he's struggling to remember something.

"What the _hell_ is going on?!" Cordelia screams, coming up to them; great, like this is really needed right now. If Angel eats her, she's not doing a thing to stop it. "What did you band of _freaks_ bring in here?!"

"Vampires," Xander says dryly, too tired from the fight to hide it from her.

"You… what are you… _what?"_ Cordelia sputters.

"Vam-pi-res," Xander sounds out slowly for her. Cordelia turns white as she seems to piece two and two together. She takes a step back, looking at all of them in wide eyed horror and anger.

"FREAKS!" she screams, backing away from them like they're the plague. She runs out of the club with the last pack of Bronze customers, leaving the group to themselves.

"Buffy, why didn't you tell us that Angel is a vampire?" Giles asks, furious.

"It… never came up?" Buffy answers weakly. Oh bull-fuckin'-shit. Faith's glaring at her fiercely. How could she endanger all of their lives like this? Selfish bitch!

"Giles, it's okay. I wouldn't… I couldn't hurt you guys," Angel tries to explain, keeping his voice calm and his face trusting.

"You drink blood, don't you?!" Faith snaps.

"Pig's blood," Angel explains. Okay, that's fuckin' nasty.

"This… we…" Giles starts, obviously overwhelmed, "We should get back to the Library. We'll discuss this further there." He looks disappointed in Buffy, which is probably better than how Faith's looking at her which is completely furious. Yeah, he might have saved her life, but he could be the one to end it later on down the line! How could she be so fucking _stupid?_

"I knew I didn't like him for a reason," Xander mutters.

Faith's right there with him as she eyes Angel, trying to find any hint of evil in him. It just infuriates her further that he seems genuine, and she swears at Buffy before stomping off; out the door.

Like this day wasn't already shit to begin with. Fuck.

**TBC…**


	22. Truce

**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO  
****Truce**

Faith knew she didn't like Angel for a reason.

A vampire, a fucking _vampire._

He has a soul; he does good… yeah, yeah, whatever. He _was _a murdering bastard at one point in his undead life though, according to Giles and this little book he's now reading like it's the most fascinating thing in the world since sliced bread.

Not that Faith gets why sliced bread has ever been fascinating. Or was it the coolest thing since sliced bread? Whatever. That really isn't the point.

He didn't come back to the library with them; Angel, that is. He brooded silently a bit about everyone looking at him like he was going to take a chunk out of their neck when they were on their way back, but once they got there he said he was going to head underground to see if he can find out the Master's next move and that if they need any help in the future that they know where he is.

Faith was more thinking along the lines of if they need to stake him at some point in the immediate future they know where he is, but potato potahto.

Giles verified the soul… _infusion_, or whatever the fuck it was. A couple phone calls and some babble about someone owing him a favor later: he got a few slim details, but enough to prove that Angel really does have a soul stuffed into that rotting carcass of his.

To be fair, Faith gets that he saved her life tonight, twice. She also gets why she's more furious with his presence in this world than she's ever been because of one simple question that Giles asked and Buffy's vague answer:

"How did you find out that Angel was a vampire?"

Everyone sitting around the table looks at her; Faith, Willow, and Xander, each with equally curious faces, though Faith's was more annoyed than anything and Xander did look a little pissed off too. Buffy shifted her eyes, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks, "We uh… we were fighting and he… changed."

Buffy's a crap liar.

"Bullshit," Faith says flatly, eyes flashing. She really didn't like how red Buffy's face is getting and how she's completely avoiding her gaze specifically.

"Angel's just a friend, Faith," Buffy says quietly, fiddling with her purse nervously.

"Love how you defended that even though I didn't fuckin' accuse you of anything yet."

Buffy's eyes flash and she picks up her purse and slams it on the table, emitting a _BANG!_ What the hell does she have in there? Rocks? "You've already made it clear that we aren't together so why the hell do you care what I do?" Buffy snaps.

Xander and Willow's eyes go wide and Giles clears his throat awkwardly and starts cleaning his glasses.

"Did you fuck that undead piece of meat?" Faith asks, disgusted. "Now I'm _definitely_ never touchin' you."

"I didn't—" Buffy starts, but anger makes her explode onto another topic. "And you know what? I don't want you anywhere _near _me when I slay anymore – you're a liability!"

"_Excuse _you?"

"I almost got killed tonight because of your stupid hero antics!" Buffy yells. Faith stands up quickly, the chair she was in clattering to the ground as she leans forward over the table, sneering.

"Enough!" Giles exclaims. Buffy and Faith stop, but continue to glare at each other. "Now far be it from me to get involved in either of your personal lives but both of you must stop this childishness this instant. Need I remind you that the Master is still at large?"

'At large'. He sounds like that bitch that used to order you to go find Carmen Sandiego.

Don't look at her like that; they made her play that game in middle school; something about geography or some other such crap.

"She almost got me killed, Giles," Buffy accuses, pointing like the brat that she is. Faith flips her off.

"She almost got you killed because you allowed yourself to let your personal feelings interfere with your slaying," Giles tells her seriously. Faith has a look of triumph on her face before Giles turns to her, "I'd refrain from looking smug if I were you, Faith. You are guilty of the same weakness."

Faith scowls and rolls her eyes a bit before turning around and grabbing her chair off the ground and standing it upright. She sits down in a huff and folds her arms into herself.

"As for the Angel situation, I think it would be wise to enlist him as an ally," Giles goes on.

"What?" Xander asks, astounded.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Faith yells.

"He's a vampire!" Xander continues.

"He's fighting on our side!" Buffy interjects.

"He did save Faith's life… a-and help with killing the Vessel," Willow says. Buffy gives her an appreciative look.

"Every record of Angelus; his demon side, ceased around one hundred years ago," Giles tells them. "Gryack; the man I spoke too, told me that when Angel was reinsouled he would have insufferable torment. He was never seen or heard from until a couple decades ago. Guilt and redemption is a powerful motivator and after seeing his dedication in helping Buffy—"

"Yeah, help take her clothes off," Faith muttered. Buffy shoots her a look.

"—with the Master, among other battles, I do believe letting him assist us would be the wisest move," Giles says. He pauses for a minute, fiddling with the glasses on his nose. "Though if he tries to kill us all, I give you all full permission to say 'I told you so.'"

"That's comforting," Xander replies dryly.

"He's good," Buffy tells them all. "I know it, I can feel it."

"Yeah, in your pants," Faith mutters. She knows she's being one big fuckin' immature brat, but she can't exactly stop words from coming out of her mouth sometimes.

"Okay, seriously?" Buffy snaps, eyes flashing dangerously. "Did you or did you not hear what I told you a couple days ago? What you've been shoving down my throat since the first day you met me?"

"Just cause you're—" Faith starts, but is interrupted by Giles.

"Girls! This is getting ridiculous," Giles exclaims. "Buffy, you are the Slayer. And Faith, you are a Potential Slayer. You two _will _be working together side by side every day and I will not tolerate you both getting yourselves killed because you cannot work out your differences."

"But she's the one—" Buffy starts to blame, but is silenced by Giles.

"I've seen childishness on both parts. Now I want you both to go into my office and work out the problems you have with each other while Willow, Xander and I do more research. I will not have the fate of the world rest on the shoulders of a teenage hormone parade."

Faith snorts. "Seriously G? _Hormone _parade?" While it's kind of insulting, it's also really funny.

"Go, now," Giles says, indicating his office. He's got that stern fatherly look about him that makes Faith grumble under her breath because she knows she's going to do what he says. She rolls her eyes though, a little sign of defiance as she gets up and stomps into Giles' office, Buffy behind her.

"More research?" Faith hears Xander groan before Buffy shuts the door behind her.

Faith flops down on Giles' swivel chair at his desk and props her feet up. She folds her arms over herself and cocks an eyebrow at Buffy who leans back against the wall, looking at her. This isn't gonna be pleasant. "So… did ya fuck him?"

"We're supposed to be working out our differences, not starting another fight," Buffy reminds her, annoyed.

"And this is me workin' shit out," Faith explains with a little click of her tongue in irritation. She peers at her with a sadistic smirk on her face before she goes on, "So did ya like his cold dead cock all up in ya? Bet you masturbate with a popsicle now; tryin' to relive that nasty little deed." Yeah, a bit vulgar, but hey; she's pissed here.

"I didn't sleep with him, Faith!" Buffy exclaims. "I don't spread my legs for just anyone that walks by!" Faith can tell that Buffy had to stop herself before she said something along the lines of 'unlike you,' which was probably wise on her behalf.

"Well ya sure as hell didn't find out he was a vamp durin' a fight."

Buffy looks away, flushing a little bit again. She folds her arms self-consciously before she admits, "We just… kissed; once."

He vamps out when he kisses people? That's kinda fucked up.

"When?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Cause I asked the fuckin' question, Blondie."

Buffy glares at her demanding attitude and Faith just stares back at her. They have a silent battle of wills for a moment before Buffy finally speaks.

"A couple weeks ago," she tells her, and then shrugs. "Look, I don't understand why you're so upset. Nothing is going on between us. It was one kiss; a kind of spur of the moment thing, but I told him that I wasn't interested in him like that and he understands. Besides, you really don't have any room to get pissed off with me over it because it's not like there's anything between us."

"I'm pissed cause ya let that undead monkey touch you, thought you were better than that."

"And I thought you were better than letting half this town sleep with you!" Buffy cries, looking hurt.

"You don't know jack shit about my sex life, B, so don't fuckin' pretend to," Faith snaps. She picks up a pencil from Giles' desk, trying to occupy her hands so she doesn't up and hit her, but it snaps between her fingers quickly. She throws the broken pieces to the ground, annoyed.

"I know enough," Buffy tells her. "You're the one that said all you're good for is sex and _I'm_ the one who walked in and had to hear you with that girl that night! Do you have any idea how crappy that was for me?! I was already confused about how I felt about you and then we almost…" she trails off, shaking her head. "And then not ten minutes later you're having loud, dirty,_ public _sex with that slut!"

"That _slut _has a fuckin' name," Faith snaps, eyes flashing. "Her name was Trish and she fuckin' died tonight. So ya maybe wanna lay off about her?!"

Buffy's eyes go wide. "Oh God, Faith. I'm so sorry, I didn't know…"

"Yeah well, no use cryin' over it," Faith says, staring at the far wall. It wasn't like she loved Trish, she barely even liked her half the time, but she was kind of a friend… or something. It just sucks.

"Faith…"

"Just fuckin' forget about it. Don't wanna talk or hug and cry or whatever the hell else ya think we're gonna do. Trish ain't the point right now," Faith tells her flatly, keeping all of her emotions in check except annoyance, which was an acceptable one to let out.

"So what is the point?" Buffy asks quietly.

"Fuck if I know. Not fighting? Whatever Giles sent us in here to do."

"Well if we want to stop doing that maybe you could start being a little less jealous," Buffy says softly. Faith scoffs.

"I ain't fuckin' jealous."

"You're not angry because Angel's a vampire!" Buffy exclaims, frustrated. "Even before you met him you hated him because you thought there was something going on between him and me!"

"He was _stalking_ you," Faith says dangerously.

"No, he wasn't! God, do you even listen to yourself when you speak? Stalkers don't help me kill the bad guys; they have creepy wall collages of pictures and… I don't know, binoculars or something! Will you just admit that you didn't like him because you were jealous?!"

"I ain't fuckin' jealous because jealousy implies that I want you to myself and I sure as fuck don't want that," Faith says flatly. She cocks an eyebrow at her and goes on, "You're hot, B, okay? I'll give ya that. And yeah, I thought about fuckin' the hell outta ya maybe once or twice. But you're my fuckin' friend and that's all you're ever gonna be. Just cause I wanna stick my tongue down your throat doesn't mean I want a relationship."

"I'm not asking for one!"

"Whatever. You've been all moon-eyed over me for weeks now," Faith points out.

"I don't know _why._ You're such an asshole sometimes," Buffy mumbles, annoyed. She shakes her head, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "Maybe you're right," she says quietly. She sighs. "I liked it when we were friends. This? This is complicated and confusing and all it's doing is making us fight."

"Well then quit having a crush on me and everything will be better," Faith tells her.

"_You _quit being territorial over me then!"

"I'm not fuckin'—"

"Faith! You _are!_ God, can you just stop being such a defensive prick and just admit it?!" Buffy cries. "Do I really have to keep drilling into your head the whole Angel thing?! I'm sure the next guy or girl that shows any kind of interest in me you're going to be all angry broody girl again, and it doesn't make any sense because you said you don't want—"

"I DON'T WANT ANY OTHER FUCKER HAVING YOU BEFORE ME, ALRIGHT?!" Faith screams in fit of anger, pushing everything off of Giles' desk. Things clatter to the floor and Buffy just stares at her, eyes wide.

Fuck, that wasn't supposed to come out.

There's silence between them for a moment and Faith really wishes she could reverse time or just beat the hell out of Buffy so that she doesn't remember what she just admitted. Neither scenario seemed like it would work though, the latter only because Buffy would probably wipe the floor with her.

She really fuckin' hates that she's stronger than her.

"Faith... you said you didn't want to be with me. So why…?"

"I don't want a_ relationship_ with you, B. I do wanna fuck your brains out though," Faith says crudely. "And it kinda pisses me off that you're my friend because if you weren't you'd already be seduced, fucked, then thrown outta my bed the next morning."

"So what… is this a 'wanting what you can't have' sort of thing?" Buffy asks slowly, trying to figure her out.

Faith laughs, "Please. I can have you if I wanted and you know it."

"Actually no, Faith. I don't just jump into bed with anyone. I do actually like to have a relationship first," Buffy tells her, annoyed that she thinks so little of her.

"You can preach high and mighty all day, Princess. But the truth is if I wanted to fuck you, you'd be fucked. No questions asked."

"You can't just assume that I'd—!"

"And for your information, Twinkie; the only reason I haven't fuckin' done it is because ya got a thing for me and it'll hurt you. So some credit where it's due would be nice," Faith finishes.

"Fine. Thanks for not making me into another one of your whores, Faith," Buffy says sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

"You're completely infuriating, you know that?!" Buffy cries, beyond irritated. She throws her hands up in the air and starts pacing a little. "Why is it that the only thing you care about is sex? Can't you be a normal person and want the intimacy that's supposed to go along with that?!"

"Intimacy is for pussies."

"No, _you're _a pussy. You're just scared of letting someone in, Faith," Buffy tells her, stopping her pacing and rounding to face her.

"And you think you're the one that I should _let in, _do ya?" Faith mocks.

"Actually from what I've seen so far I'd rather _not_ be that person," Buffy tells her. "Trying to have a relationship with you would be like chewing on nails." She pauses, "Actually chewing on nails sounds more pleasant."

"Fuck you."

"Faith, I care about you," Buffy tells her seriously, ignoring her rudeness. "I don't know _why _but apparently I do and I don't think that's going to change. But I'm… I'm going through some stuff right now. The Master wants to kill us all and on top of that I realized I'm…"

"A dyke?" Faith offers.

"A _lesbian_," Buffy corrects, flushing a little in embarrassment. "But I… I don't know; I know I need someone who's going to be patient with me and well, you're definitely not that. I'm not stupid, but maybe I was a little hopeful that you weren't so self-involved and carrying more baggage than Cordelia on a day trip. But you are, so I'm sorry I tried to… whatever I tried to do. Make you care more, or something."

"I don't have _baggage,"_ Faith mutters.

"You have more issues then a stack of magazines, Faith. Anyone who's talked to you for five minutes can realize that," Buffy tells her honestly. Faith rolls her eyes and flips her the finger.

"Fuck you and your _issues_, Summers."

"Can you stop being defensive? We're supposed to be working stuff out. I apologized, didn't I? I think it's your turn."

"What the hell do I have to be sorry for?" Faith snaps.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you could touch on the whole possessive thing," Buffy says sarcastically, "just a thought."

"Fine. I'm fuckin' sorry I wanted to bang ya."

"That's not—"

"Are we done now?" Faith interrupts.

Buffy sighs, running her fingers through her hair. "We're still… annoyed, aren't we? Well, I know_ you_ are."

"I'm fine."

She's not fine.

"No you're not, you're snapping at me," Buffy tells her. "What did I say that pissed you off?"

"Nothing."

"Faith, just tell me or we'll never get out of this room."

Faith sighs, annoyed. She flicks a pen off the desk and grumbles without looking at her, "I just don't fuckin' like you assumin' I got issues. You don't know me, so I think you should fuck off about that."

"Fine, I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again, okay?" Buffy tries. Faith still doesn't look at her. "Faith please… I want to be friends."

"We are friends," Faith says flatly.

"Not really, all we do is yell at each other, at least lately." Faith doesn't say anything so Buffy crosses the room to kneel down so that she's eye level with Faith who's still sitting on the chair. She puts her hand on her leg, trying to get her attention. "Can you look at me for a second?"

Faith rolls her eyes and turns to look at her. "Jesus, what?"

"You're the only person I know that gets what I have to deal with right now," Buffy tells her. "You're training right now to possibly replace me, Faith. _When I die._ So you get the world I live in and you understand that we have a higher chance of dying in the next week than most people. Maybe that's why I feel close to you and maybe I mistook that for other feelings, I don't know. Maybe I have both. But I want us to be friends at least because you're the only one who really gets what's going on with me, and I'm the only one who really gets what's going on with you."

Faith raises an eyebrow at her and is silent for a moment, contemplating what Buffy just said. Then she says, "Jeez B, that was kinda mushy."

"Don't make fun of me."

"I ain't, I was just sayin'," Faith says with a smirk. She leans back in the chair and points out, "Ya forgot the whole gay thing too."

"Yeah well, I don't think you helping me work through that part of my life would be the best thing in the world. I think we need to… maybe try and stay away from all those…" she blushes, "other feelings. If we do maybe we'll stop fighting."

Faith shrugs, "Maybe. Whatever. I'm starved, can we get somethin' to eat or do ya think Giles is gonna try to make us stay and research?"

"Research probably," Buffy says, but smiles because she knows that's as much of an admission of a truce as she's going to get out of Faith.

"Is there a back way outta here?" Faith asks, looking around hopefully.

Buffy giggles a little, standing up and leaning against the wall. "Not unless you want to drill a hole in the wall." Then she gets a look on her face like she knew she shouldn't be giving Faith ideas.

Faith smirks, looking devious. "Got a drill?"

**TBC…**


	23. The New Girl

**CHAPTER TWENTY THREE  
****The New Girl**

"Homecoming is in two weeks," Buffy mentions the next afternoon as she looks at the fliers hanging on the lockers, officially announcing the festivities that all the students have been talking about for months. Faith rolls her eyes.

"Don't remind me."

"Aren't you going to go?" Buffy asks, surprised. She stops at her locker and starts to fiddle with the combination as Faith leans against the one next to hers.

"Not unless forced at gunpoint."

Buffy rolls her eyes as she opens her locker, putting away her books for the day. "Let me guess; you have an aversion to dresses."

"No. I look fuckin' hot in dresses, or, well, anything really," Faith says smirking. But then she shrugs, "But the last thing I wanna do is waste a Friday night hangin' with all the losers in this joint," a beat; "with no alcohol."

"Well _I'm _going," Buffy informs her with a little self satisfied smile. "Mom is helping me pick out a dress this weekend. I was thinking white."

White; virginal. Yeah, sounds like Buffy, though Faith would have guessed pink if anything, just because it's so girly.

"Oh yeah? And who ya gonna go with?" Faith asks, maybe a little spitefully. Yeah they've agreed to be just friends but she'd like to know who's gonna have their grabby little hands all over her… _friend._ Whatever.

Buffy flushes a little. "You don't need a date to go, Faith. Me, Willow and Xander are all planning to go together," she tells her. She closes her locker and looks at her. "You should come."

"Not likely." She hands Buffy back her lock, who looks surprised and then annoyed that Faith had taken it without her noticing. As she puts it back on her locker Faith continues, "And no one asked ya? Are all the fuckin' idiots in this place blind?"

Buffy looks a little embarrassed at her compliment and smiles shyly. "I didn't say no one asked me, Faith," she tells her coyly before she turns to walk away. "I just didn't want to go with any of them."

Faith cocks an eyebrow and follows her, walking side by side down the crowded hallway of students. "Who?" she asks.

"John Barkley, Robert Lows, Gerald Ryson, Joey Lankton, Nate Baker—" Buffy starts to list.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Damn," Faith says, holding up her hand to Buffy to make her stop as she looks at her in surprise. Even though Buffy isn't hanging out with Cordelia anymore she still seems quite popular.

Too bad she's a lesbian. That makes Faith smirk; knowing that all those fuckers don't got a chance in hell.

…Okay maybe she _is _a little bit possessive. But is it her fault that she doesn't want Buffy to date football players? I mean for fuck's sake, if she gave them half a chance they'd pay attention to her long enough to get under her skirt and then throw her away. And who would Buffy come crying to?

Well maybe Willow first, but Faith would probably be somewhere down on that list.

And yeah, she gets that that's the kind of shit _she _does to women so maybe it's a little hypocritical to want to stop people from doing that kinda crap to Buffy, but _she _doesn't do it to her so really, somewhere in her head, it all makes sense.

Buffy's like the exception to the rule.

"Well you asked," Buffy says with a shrug. She peers at her, "Didn't anyone ask you?"

"B, I'm a dyke that everyone's piss scared of, so no."

Buffy stops suddenly, making Faith stop with her. Buffy looks up at her and asks, "Do you want someone to ask you?" She's looking at her like she's trying to study her; Faith hates that look.

"What the fuck do ya take me for? Like I give a rat's ass," Faith brushes it off, pushing past her to keep walking. But Buffy grabs her arm and pulls her back towards her.

"Faith, will you go to Homecoming with me?" she asks suddenly, like she had to force up the courage to ask one simple question. She purses her lips as she waits for Faith's answer, her hand still on her arm.

Faith blinks at her for a moment, then busts out laughing. "You can't be serious," she tells her, like it's completely ridiculous. "B, yesterday we agreed to be just friends."

Buffy looks annoyed and a little embarrassed by her laughing and she hits her in the arm. Faith winces; fuck she hates it when she hits her. "I know that! I didn't mean as a couple. I mean like as a date… but not in a couply way; a casual date. I don't know; you said no one asked you and I think that's really stupid because you're beautiful and I think anyone would be lucky to take you."

Faith's taken aback by that, and her face shows it. That might actually be one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to her. "You're serious?" she asks skeptically.

"Of course I am."

Faith still looks at her skeptically, "Isn't this too big of a statement for you?"

Buffy looks confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean like bringin' a chick as your date in front of your whole school; comin' out, Princess," she clarifies. Buffy's eyes go a bit wide.

"Oh, no, I… well that's why it'd be casual! I mean I don't want to—"

"Be who you are?" Faith answers for her pointedly. Buffy sighs.

"Nevermind, forget I asked," she says as she turns away from her. But this time it's Faith's turn to grab her arm, pulling her back.

"Look I'll go to the stupid dance if ya want. I mean; me, you, Red, and Xand… we'll just all hang or whatever," Faith says. "I'll sneak in some booze and maybe it won't suck as much."

Buffy chews on her bottom lip a little, looking worried. "Just so we're clear… I wasn't asking you out," she tells her. "I mean we said—"

"Then what the hell was that? Pity?" Faith interrupts, annoyed. She's not going to be anyone's fucking pity date.

"No!" Buffy exclaims. "I just… I don't know, Faith! I'm sorry I asked, okay? I know we're supposed to be doing the friend thing but I really do think it's stupid that no one else asked you and… I guess I just think you deserve to be asked, so I did. But I do want you to go, Faith. We can all just go as friends and that's fine."

"Whatever."

"Faith…"

"Hey guys!" Willow exclaims, bounding up to them excitedly.

Faith takes that opportunity to ignore Buffy and drop the subject completely. "Hey Red, ain't seen you all day."

"Snyder had me showing a new girl around," Willow explains. "Y-You know that school that had the fire? The all girl's boarding school? It's not going to reopen until next year so all the students have to go to other schools for the rest of the year. We have at least twenty new students."

"Great" Faith groans, just what this school needs; boarding school brats.

Though, on the other hand; all girls' boarding school… bound to be some lesbians in there. Faith smirks; fresh meat.

Buffy smacks her arm.

"Ow! What the fuck, B?!" Faith exclaims, rubbing the offended area.

"Everyone in a five mile radius heard what you were just thinking, Faith," Buffy says flatly.

"What was she thinking?" Willow asks, clueless. Faith snickers and Buffy glares at her before turning to Willow.

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"All girl's boarding school, Red," Faith explains with a smirk. "Just think of the possibilities." Her mind is swimming with them right now, that's for sure.

Willow blushes a deep shade of crimson, finally getting what Faith is referring too. But then a voice behind them calls out, "Willow!" and all three of them turn to look at a slender brunette girl jog up to them. "Hey," she greats her with a smile, then indicates the books in her hands. "Do you remember where my locker is? This place is a complete fucking disaster trying to get around."

"Oh! Y-Yeah," Willow stutters a little, smiling nervously at her. "I-It's just around the corner."

"Who's your friend, Red?" Faith asks, checking the girl out. Buffy looks at her furiously but Faith doesn't notice. What she does notice though is the girl's eyes sweep down her body and then back up with a little hint of a smirk tugging at her lips.

"Oh, s-sorry! Kennedy, this is Faith and Buffy," Willow introduces. "She's the girl I was talking about."

"You were talking about me?" Kennedy asks, looking over at Willow with a cocky smirk on her face. Willow blushes a little.

"I-I was just… t-telling them that you just transferred here."

Damn, Willow is more nervous than usual.

Faith sees why though once she notices Kennedy checking _Willow _out. Damn, out and proud, obviously. Faith kinda likes that; that she doesn't provide explanation or apology for the way she is because Faith's like that too. Faith doesn't go around screaming she's gay but if you just take a second to look it's pretty obvious.

Faith leans against the lockers and crosses her arms over her chest, making sure to accentuate her breasts. It doesn't go unnoticed by Kennedy… or Buffy for that matter, who looks like steam is about to pour out of her ears. But Faith's attention is focused on the brunette for the moment because she knows she has more of a chance of getting laid with her.

Might be wrong, but hey that's life.

"So was it you that burned your school down?" Faith asks with a smirk. Kennedy laughs.

"No, I actually kind of liked it there. The uniforms were shit but my parents are pretty loaded and thought it'd 'better my education'," she mocks with finger quotes. "I liked it cause of all the… _options _though," she tells her with a flirty look.

Yeah, Faith is so gonna fuck this chick at least once.

"Well it was nice to meet you, Kennedy," Buffy says shortly, her annoyance coming through her voice. "But Faith and I need to get to the library."

"Oh, yeah, I gotta go there too to see a Mr… Giles?" Kennedy asks, looking a little unsure of the name. "I… have to get some books from him."

Buffy doesn't look too happy that she'll be joining them.

"You a Junior?" Faith asks, trying to guess her age.

"Sophomore," Kennedy corrects.

"What I should be," Faith tells her with a smirk before pushing herself off the lockers and giving her a nod of her head. "Come on."

They start walking together down the hall, leaving Buffy and Willow to stare after them for a moment before following. "Held back?" Kennedy asks, looking her over. Faith doesn't really blame her for making that assessment, a lot of people would. She has 'trouble child' written all over her.

"Skipped ahead."

"No shit?"

"Mhm. I'm some kinda fuckin' prodigy," Faith says with a smirk. She looks over at her, "You intimidated?" she teases.

"Not in the slightest," Kennedy says with a little laugh as they stroll through the library doors. Giles looks up as he sees them enter and looks a little surprised to see Faith with another girl until a very grumpy looking Buffy follows behind them with Willow… and then Xander who runs in looking a little horrified. He slams the doors closed behind them and presses his back up against it and everyone looks at him questionably.

"Did we all get sucked into an alternate universe?" he asks seriously.

"What the fuck are ya runnin' from?" Faith asks, looking at him; Buffy's on full alert, probably wondering if a teacher ended up revealing itself to be a demon.

"Nothing, I… it's been a weird day," Xander says, blinking a little heavily as he shakes his head and steps away from the door. "Nevermind." Then he looks around and looks a little sheepish when he realizes there's someone he doesn't know in the room. "Hi… person I've never met. I'm not usually this frantic; I'm usually very put together. 'Put together Xander', that's what they call me!" He winces a little at how lame that sounded, "Or just Xander, if you want to shorten it."

"Kennedy, this is Xander," Willow introduces with an amused smile.

"Hey," Kennedy says, seemingly uninterested as she turns back to Faith. Xander lets out a breath he seemed to be holding.

"Right," Giles says, looking at Xander like he shouldn't run in here like that unless the world's about to be eaten by giant turtles or something. He turns back to the girls. "I see you've all have already met Kennedy, then."

"Whoa, how the fuck do you know her?" Faith asks, looking surprised since Kennedy wasn't even sure of his name five minutes ago.

"Wait, they all know?" Kennedy asks, looking alarmed.

"Know what?" Buffy asks, annoyed. "Giles!"

"Sorry, I meant to inform you yesterday but with the eventful day we had it slipped my mind," Giles apologizes, even though 'eventful' didn't even seem to cover it. "Buffy, Faith, this is Kennedy; another potential Slayer. Her Watcher just called, he should be joining us shortly."

"No way, seriously?" Faith asks, looking at her surprised. "Wicked."

"Are you the Slayer?" Kennedy asks her, just as surprised.

"Actually, that would be me," Buffy says, raising her hand in annoyance. Kennedy looks at her skeptically, not thinking that a girl who wears pastels would be the big bad Slayer.

"You?"

Buffy gives her an irritated look before she picks up the letter opener Giles has laying on his desk and throws it at the board that Giles was having them use for target practice; perfect bulls eye. Kennedy raises her eyebrows, impressed. "Okay; you then." Giles looks annoyed that she just threw his letter opener and goes to retrieve it with a sigh.

"Yeah; me," Buffy says challengingly. Faith raises her eyebrows at her attitude.

"Since Kennedy has been transferred here, the Council believes that it would be best if the three of you train together, under the supervision of myself and Kennedy's Watcher."

"So you two only have one Watcher?" Kennedy asks, looking between them both.

"After the passing of Buffy's first Watcher, Merrick, I was assigned to them both, yes," Giles answers for them. "But now that you have come, the responsibility of Buffy will be shared between myself and your Watcher who—" he's interrupted as the Library doors open and a younger, stuffier version of Giles walks through the door. Oh Christ. "—is here, I see," Giles finishes. He gets up, walking over to the other man and extends his hand in introduction, "Rupert Giles."

"Wesley Wyndam-Price," the man introduces himself, shaking Giles' hand. Kennedy rolls her eyes and Faith smirks; she already knows all she needs to know about this dude by the way Kennedy acts around him.

Wesley looks around the room, surprised. "And who are these…_teenagers_?" he asks, looking like he wasn't expecting this many people.

"This is Buffy; whom I assume you already know is the Slayer," Giles tells him, indicating the annoyed girl by the desk who is busy breaking pencils in half and staring at Faith and Kennedy. "Faith; my Potential," he indicates Faith who's too busy talking to Kennedy in whispered voices. "And their friends; Willow and Xander."

"And they all know?" Wesley asks, horrified by this revelation. "The Council strictly orders that the Slayer's identity must be kept secret!"

"You think he's ever gotten laid?" Faith asks in a whisper to Kennedy, eying the girl's Watcher.

"If he has, it didn't help," Kennedy says flatly, Faith smirks.

"Uptight?"

"There isn't even a word for what he is," Kennedy tells her in a low voice, snickering. Faith chuckles a little and whispers something into Kennedy's ear.

Buffy breaks another pencil.

"I'm aware of what the Council orders," Giles replies, looking a bit annoyed himself. "But as you should know, it isn't always possible. Throughout the years there have been many instances of civilians knowing the Slayer's true identity. And as you are also aware; Slayer's are teenager girls. Trying to keep a teenage girl away from her friends is next to impossible in this day and age."

Wesley doesn't seem to have a retort for that, but still looks less than pleased.

"Well," Wesley replies, a little flustered as he takes off his glasses and cleans them with a handkerchief. "I assume you will be filling Kennedy and I in about the situation with the Master, since I am to act as the Slayer's Watcher as well."

"The Slayer has a name," Buffy replies annoyed.

"I'm sorry; Buffy," Wesley corrects himself. Buffy's eyes flash and she looks at Giles.

"Am I going to be able to hit things soon or can I leave while you guys have your boring meeting?"

"You allow her to talk to you that way?" Wesley asks, astounded.

Giles ignores Wesley. "Of course, you and Faith may do some sparring while I fill in Wesley and Kennedy about the situation here," he tells Buffy, who allows herself to give him an appreciative smile before her eyes lock onto Faith's, challenging.

Something about her look makes Faith feel like she's not about to get out of this unscathed.

"Oh and Buffy," Giles says as Buffy grabs the gym bag that holds her and Faith's workout clothes from behind the desk. She looks over at him and he tells her pointedly, seeing the look in her eye, "Need I remind you about the conversation we had yesterday? And remember to pull your punches."

"Yeah, yeah, I won't kill her," Buffy mumbles before she throws the bag over her shoulder and walks out the library doors to go to the bathroom to change. Faith glances at Kennedy.

"I'll be back."

Kennedy nods as Faith leaves, following Buffy to the bathroom. When she opens the door she finds her workout clothes have been thrown on the floor and Buffy's already in the stall changing. "What the fuck is your issue, B?" Faith snaps, picking up her clothes from off the ground.

"I don't have an issue, _F,"_ Buffy mocks from inside the stall.

Liar.

"You've been a bitch ever since Kennedy showed up," Faith tells her as she goes into another stall to change. She strips off her shirt in one smooth motion.

"I'm fine, Faith," Buffy snaps, but then Faith hears a bang; Buffy must have kicked something.

"Yeah, ya sound real fine," Faith mocks under her breath as she pulls on her tank top.

"Just leave me alone."

Faith sighs. "Whatever." She's not going to get into another fight with her.

They dress in silence and after Faith exits her stall she turns to the one Buffy's in, which is silent. Faith knows she's not changing anymore; she can't hear her shuffling around. Her guess is that Buffy's just sitting on the toilet either moping about something or trying to calm down. She knocks on the door lightly. "Ya die in there?"

"I'm fine."

"Well ya gonna come out?"

"Probably not," Buffy whispers, sounding upset. Faith looks concerned, her eyebrows knitting together. What the hell happened?

"B?"

"Just go away…"

"B, if ya don't open the stall door I'm gonna climb under it," Faith tells her seriously.

"The floor is disgusting, Faith," Buffy tells her.

"Then ya better get your ass out here."

But Buffy doesn't move. Faith waits there for a moment before sighing heavily and dropping to the ground. She starts to crawl under the stall door, hoping to fuck the floor has been washed recently at least. "Faith!" Buffy protests angrily as she sees the girl slide into her stall.

"Told ya I would," Faith says, picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off. She looks down at Buffy who's sitting on the toilet, arms wrapped around hers. Her eyes look red. "Why are you cryin'?"

"I'm not," Buffy shoots back, angry. She furiously wipes away what are so obviously tears on her cheeks as she stands up. "Let's just go." She moves to push past her but Faith stands her ground. Buffy's eyes flash at her dangerously. "Don't make me put you through the door," she warns.

"'Big Bad Scary Slayer' don't work on me, B," Faith tells her, crossing her arms in front of her chest defiantly. "Now ya gonna tell me what's up or are we just gonna stay trapped in this little space forever?"

"Will you just leave me alone for once?!" Buffy shrieks.

"No, you're my fuckin' friend, Buffy. If you're cryin' I'm damn sure gonna want to know why then kick the shit out of the asshole who caused it."

"Then kick the shit out of _yourself,"_ Buffy tells her flatly.

"_Me?"_ What the fuck did she do?

"Yes you! You are such an insufferable idiot, Faith! In what warped reality do you think it's okay for me to watch you hang all over another girl?!" Buffy yells at her.

Faith blinks, shocked… and a little confused. "You mean Kennedy?" she asks, like she's not sure.

"No, Willow," Buffy says dryly before she bursts out with, "Of course Kennedy!" She shoves her back into the stall door, making it shake.

"I was just flirtin' with her," Faith tries to defend, slapping Buffy's hands away from her. It's not like she made out with her in front of her or anything!

"And you think that's an acceptable thing to do in front of me?!" Buffy yells. "I know we decided to just be friends, Faith, but I need more than a day to get used to seeing you pick up other women! God, do you even _think?!_ I'm not like you; I can't just pretend to bury everything. I still like you, Faith! A lot! That's going to take more than a day to get over, damnit!"

Well okay, Faith wasn't expecting that little burst of truth from Buffy. Shit, she feels like such an asshole.

"I'm sorry," Faith responds; it's the best she can offer her. She didn't really even think about it; she just did what came naturally when presented with a hot lesbian… or maybe bisexual, Faith isn't really sure on that matter. It's not like she was purposely trying to hurt Buffy or make her jealous or… whatever else. But Buffy's… she's not going to be hers' tonight or any other night so it's time to move on, right? Faith still has priorities; one of them getting laid.

But another is not hurting Buffy, and right now that seems to be the more important one to Faith with how completely shitty she feels for doing it.

"Just forget it," Buffy says, trying to push past her, but Faith won't move.

"B… I said I was sorry."

"Just move out of my way, Faith. Now."

"No."

"Faith! I don't want to have to _make _you move!"

"No, Buffy! I'm tryin' to fuckin' apologize for being a jackass here, the least you can fuckin' do is listen to me!" Faith yells, getting more frustrated by the minute. Why are things never simple with Buffy?!

"You're always a jackass!" Buffy screams, pushing her back. "You're inconsiderate, you're crude, you're selfish and you're a slut! You don't give a crap about anyone but yourself and your damn vagina and yet all I want to do when I look at you is to just—" she pushes her back again, but the words never come. Instead Buffy's lips collide with hers, kissing her with fierce, angry passion. It's probably one of the sexiest things Faith's ever witnessed; Buffy's anger turning sexual, which hey, might prove how screwed up she really is but that doesn't slow her libido down any.

For the first time Buffy's really letting go when she kisses Faith; her hands tangling in her hair as she sucks on her bottom lip, biting it softly like she's trying to claim her. Faith's hands grab onto Buffy's hips and she lifts her up, supporting her weight before pressing Buffy's back to the wall of the bathroom stall. Faith kisses her back with just as much passion as she's receiving, not bothering to stop and think about what the hell they're starting again.

Buffy wraps her legs tightly around Faith's torso as the latter pushes her up harder against the wall so she won't fall while one of her hands slides up Buffy's stomach, taking her shirt with her until she stops at her rib cage. Buffy pants softly into her mouth, eyes closed as she continues to kiss her with abandon, her grip tightening on Faith's hair as her fingers move slowly upwards… underneath her bra. She cups her breast in her hand and she can feel Buffy let out a shaky exhale that tickles her bottom lip. "Jesus, Faith…" she breathes as Faith's fingertips tease her nipple.

But then a switch goes off inside of Buffy and she pulls her lips away from hers and says breathless, "Shit, Faith, stop." She pushes her hands off of her roughly and Faith steps back, breathless and confused as Buffy slides down her body to land on her feet. "We can't do this," Buffy tells her, fixing her shirt hastily. "I'm not… I'm not going to just let you have me in this… God!" she groans and runs her fingers through her hair, looking like she hates herself.

"Buffy?" Faith asks, still confused as to what the hell is going on.

"I'm not going to give you what you want!" Buffy exclaims. "I'm not going to just let you have sex with me just because it's the only way you'll ever be interested!"

_What?_

"Is that what you think I was trying to do?" Faith asks, offended like all hell now.

"You were feeling me up!"

"Well you were acting like you wanted me too!" Faith defends. God, can she ever catch a break? "That doesn't fuckin' mean I was gonna screw you in this stall like some kinda whore!"

"It's what you do to everyone else!"

" BUT I WOULDN'T DO THAT TO _YOU!"_ Faith screams.

"You said you don't want a relationship, Faith, so what else am I supposed to think?!"

"That I'd at least have the decency to take you back to my motel room first!" Faith defends loudly. She does have better standards when it comes to Buffy after all.

Unfortunately, Buffy doesn't see it that way.

Buffy looks at her like she can't believe she just said that. "But you'd still sleep with me and then never bother again, right?" Faith doesn't answer her. "Right?!"

"What do ya want me to say, B?!"

"Nothing; this was a stupid idea. I don't know why I…" she trails off, shaking her head at herself. She's silent for a moment until she looks up at Faith, face hardening in determination. "We… we have to be just friends, Faith. You were right; that's all we can ever be so you won't hurt me." She sighs softly folding her arms into herself. Neither of them say anything for a few seconds, until suddenly Buffy looks up and gets in her face with a look of warning, "But… don't you _dare _parade around with all your little sluts in front of me again. If you really want to be my friend then you need to realize that it hurts me. You have to give me time and I'll give you the same courtesy."

"I don't care who you date," Faith lies.

Buffy laughs, like it's absurd. "Yes you do." Faith glares at her but Buffy goes on, "Just don't do it to me and I won't do it to you, okay? Otherwise we won't be able to be around each other and we… we have to be."

Right, cause of the whole Slayer thing.

Faith sighs, defeated. Fuck, her life was never this complicated until Buffy came into it. She shrugs and crosses her arms, looking defensive, "Fine, whatever."

"Thank you," Buffy replies. She purses her lips together before she unlatches the stall door, swinging it open. "Come on; we have to train." Faith just stares at her as she walks out, and it takes all of thirty seconds before she does something stupid.

"Buffy?" she calls, grabbing the stall door as she turns to look out at Buffy's retreating form. Buffy turns to look at her and she tells her quickly before she loses her nerve, "I'll go to Homecoming with you; I want to go with you."

Buffy looks at her a little sadly, Faith's effort being a little too late, "Don't complicate things, Faith," she tells her softly before turning and walking out of the bathroom, leaving Faith alone. Faith sighs and leans against the stall, banging her head against it. Well that was a fuckin' stupid thing to do.

And how the hell did she manage to get asked on a date, accept, and then get turned down? That doesn't even make sense, damnit.

Fuck women.

**TBC…**


	24. Dicks Are for Straight Chicks

_**A/N: I renewed my subscription to World of Warcraft. I blame that for the lack of updates lol.**_

**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR  
****Silly Lesbian; Dicks Are for Straight Chicks**

Faith fucked off on training, but not like that's anything new.

Instead of going back into the library, Faith completely bailed. She was pissed, though probably because she felt fuckin' humiliated. It's just screwed up all to hell that when Faith decides for a second that yeah, maybe going on a date with Buffy wouldn't actually be so bad, that Buffy decides to, what, _take it back?_ It's all so fucking high school that it makes Faith's brain bleed from the sheer stupidity of it, and it bothers her even more that it actually upsets her.

And maybe it's a good thing that Buffy said no, especially since Faith didn't actually _think _about what she was doing; she more acted on impulse. It was just one of those damn things that apparently float into your brain randomly and make you say stupid ass shit. But still… now the possibility is all entertained in her head; of her getting Buffy one of those retarded flower things for her wrist and whatever. Them in dresses and dancing and it'd all be so wicked stupid, obviously, but then why does part of her kind of want to do it anyway?

This is why she needs to get away from Buffy; obviously she's making her go insane.

"Figured this is where you went."

Faith looks up from where she was sitting, squinting into the sunlight as she watches Xander approach her. While he walks through the parking lot of her motel, she takes another drag of her cigarette. As she exhales she tells him, "Not exactly genius to find me at home, Xand."

"Giles is pissed," he tells her, flopping down on the ground and leaning against the door next to her. He waves his hand a little at the smoke coming in his direction and Faith switches hands so it doesn't blow directly in his face. "You made him look bad in front of Doctor Who."

"Okay first of all, that new Watcher ain't near as cool as Doctor Who, so don't even play," Faith says pointedly and gives him a look of warning. Xander just smirks and she takes another drag of her cigarette before flicking it into the parking lot. "Second, I ain't the Slayer so it ain't like I'm the one they're all fawning over."

"I don't think Giles actually 'fawns'," Xander points out. Faith just shrugs.

"Whatever. My point is I don't gotta be there every fuckin' day and if they have a problem with it then they can fuck off."

"You're pleasant today," Xander says dryly.

"Is what it is," Faith says before picking herself up off the ground. Xander follows suit and she opens the door to her motel room, walking in before flopping down on the bed.

Xander closes the door behind him and tells her, "Buffy's pissed too."

"Buffy can eat my ass."

A weird look crosses Xander's face and he responds, "I don't know whether that's a hot visual or a really gross one." Faith laughs as Xander comes over to sit next to her on the bed, throwing his book bag on to the floor.

"Visual wise it's fuckin' hot; rimmin' is the new pussy eatin'." Even though she's pissed at Buffy, that visual pops up into her head; Buffy all bent over, leg's spread and fuckin' drippin' while Faith's got her tongue in her ass. Yeah, that's fuckin' hot right there.

"Too much information."

"No such thing," Faith says with a little smirk as she leans over and grabs her remote off the bedside table. She situates herself on her stomach, legs in the air while she starts flipping through channels.

Xander kicks back and grabs the remote from her in one smooth swipe. Faith gets an indignant look, "Hey! My fuckin' house, here."

"Charmed is on," he explains, flipping through the channels. She raises her eyebrows in disbelief.

"And you wonder why ya haven't gotten laid yet."

Xander scoffs, "Whatever, Ms. I-can-carry-on-a-three-hour-conversation-about-the-Daleks. You're just as much of a loser as I am."

He's been on her ass about that ever since he discovered she figured out a way to steal cable just so she can get BBC America. He thinks it's fuckin' hilarious for some reason.

Faith makes a swipe for the remote but Xander gets off the bed and stands up, holding it away from her with an amused look as he keeps one eye on the TV. Faith narrows her eyes at him, "Okay, first of all, _I _get laid. Second, Doctor Who is fuckin' cool; you just hate on it cause ya don't understand the awesome. Charmed, though? For twelve year old girls with bad acne, seriously dude. Third, I'm so gonna drop you on your fuckin' ass if ya don't hand that over in the next five seconds." She holds out her hand expectantly.

Xander cocks an eyebrow at her, both amused but wary of her threat. His eyes flicker to the TV and then back to her before asking, "Compromise?"

She looks at him suspiciously, "To what?"

"X-Men is on; just passed the channel," he answers. Faith doesn't have to think about that too long before she finds that an acceptable trade.

"S'Fine," she says, then points to her dresser. "Get the chips; I stuffed them in the top drawer."

"Next to your underwear?" Xander asks, making a face.

"They're fuckin' _clean_," Faith protests, then points to the drawer more erratically, not wanting to get up. "Come on, starved here." Xander rolls his eyes and walks over to the grab the chips. He throws her the bag and she catches it easily, opening it up and starting to scarf down Doritos. She holds the bag out to him in offering and he takes some just as he switches the channel to the movie.

Xander settles back with some chips and they watch the movie together in silence for a little while before he mentions, "Will wants to go to The Bronze tonight."

Faith looks over at him in surprise, "Red's advocating fun now?"

"She wants to show Kennedy the place," he answers before giving her back the bag of chips. "Are you going to come?"

Faith makes a face. Normally yeah, but Buffy's probably gonna be there and she'd rather avoid that whole situation. "Dunno," she answers noncommittally before turning her eyes back to the television. He looks at her surprised.

"Do you have a fever? You never say 'I don't know' to a night out."

"Just dunno if I feel like it," she answers, a bit of a snap in her voice. She doesn't wanna fuckin' talk about it.

"Alright, alright. I just figured you'd like the opportunity to put the moves on Kennedy," he says with a little smirk. She turns to look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Ya think so?" she asks a bit challengingly.

"I saw you with her in the library," is all he answers. She's about to tell him that he didn't see jack shit, but he knows her too well; besides that, he's seen her pick up enough women to recognize the signs. But she doesn't want to deal with women anymore; all they are is one big fuckin' headache.

"Nah, fuck that," she tells him. She grabs the chips and stuffs a couple in her mouth before she tells him, "Thinkin' of goin' straight."

Men should be easier, right? They think with their dicks anyway; jump on, get off, out the door. No fuckin' attachments and a pleading 'will you call me?' with puppy dog eyes. Fuck all of that.

Xander laughs so hard he chokes and she shoots him a glare. He coughs a bit, trying to breathe correctly, then looks at her face. His eyes go wide in surprise, "Wait, you're serious?"

"Why the fuck wouldn't I be?"

"Um, because you're a _lesbian_, Faith," he points out.

"Who fuckin' says?" she counters; ain't like it's written in stone or anything.

"You and every woman you've ever slept with."

Faith just rolls her eyes, turning back to the TV. She can feel Xander's eyes on her for a moment before he asks, "Is this about Buffy?"

Fuck. Why'd he gotta go there?

She sits up, turning to look at him annoyed. "Why the fuck does everything gotta do with B?" she asks, defensive.

"Because everything _has _got to do with her recently," he tells her and looks at her pointedly like she should know better than to argue. She doesn't, of course.

"Fuck that bitch, man. No pussy is worth thinkin' about longer than it takes to get off."

"Have I mentioned how charming you are recently?"

Faith flips him off and turns back to the television.

"No, seriously Faith, what happened?" he asks, doing the caring friend thing that she really doesn't wanna deal with cause she ain't the share and care type. "I know you bailed on training because of her."

"Oh yeah, and how do you know that?" Faith counters without looking at him in a mocking 'know it all' tone.

"Because once Buffy realized you weren't coming back she kind of threw a Slayer sized fit," he tells her. "She started yelling how no matter what you two do it'll never be normal between you guys and that Giles should just start training you separately. Then she stormed out."

"Well that's her beef, not mine," Faith avoids.

"Well her problem seems to be with you so I just thought—"

But Faith's starting to get annoyed with all the questions and rounds on him, getting in his face. "You know what I 'just think', Xander?" she counters, irritated and defensive all to hell now. "I think you should mind your own fuckin' business."

"Hey," he says, holding up his hands in surrender. "Okay, I came here to have fun, not to fight, so this is me backing off right now; cease fire."

But Faith's still annoyed like hell, her blood coursing through her just like it does every time Buffy's mentioned. It's not exactly a good or bad feeling, but it makes her feel more… restless. She's agitated, that much is obvious, and in a desperate attempt to change the subject a little more permanently, she gives Xander this look that she can already tell freaks him out by how wide his eyes go. She licks her bottom lip a little and asks, leaning closer, "Ya wanna have fun? Cause I got a better way to do it."

If she's going to try to be straight, might as well start with the one guy she knows won't fuck her over.

"U-Uh, um…" he stutters, not being able to vocalize a full sentence to save his life. He looks like he can't seem to comprehend this sudden change in mood.

Faith's hand trails up his chest, watching in amusement at how terrified he looks. "So what do ya say, Xand?" she asks, though obviously rhetorically because she pushes his torso down with one hand so that he's lying on the bed. As she crawls on top of him she asks, "Ready to lose your virginity?"

"Um, Faith… I-I don't think—"

"Don't think," she chastises, amused. She bites her lower lip and runs her hand down his chest until she cups his rapidly hardening dick in her hand through his pants. "Feel," she corrects in a low, sexy voice as her lips curl into a smirk.

"HANDS!" Xander exclaims, apparently now bringing his brain into this situation. "Hands in bad places!" he squeaks, pushing her off of him and scrambling up, looking a bit freaked out because _Faith_ just grabbed his dick.

Though if Faith is to be honest, grabbing his dick _was_ a little weird. Now she keeps picturing the Trix rabbit in her head pointing at her and saying, "Silly lesbian; dicks are for straight chicks!"

She's always hated Trix.

She just huffs in annoyance though and turns away from him, grabbing the chips again like nothing happened. "Fine; your loss."

Xander's still staring at her like he can't believe what just happened. Faith's feeling a little weird about it too, but decides focusing on the TV would make things less awkward. She isn't exactly one hundred percent sure why she just did that; maybe just to try out something new, or maybe just to shut him up about Buffy. Either way, it didn't work.

"You… obviously need to settle things with Buffy," he tells her, looking at her like he's not sure who's in front of him anymore.

"Why the _fuck _do you think she's gotta do with anything?" Faith snaps.

"Because you're acting psycho!" he exclaims. "Faith, you tried to…" his eyes go wide but he doesn't finish that thought.

"Well _sorry _I tried to pop your cherry, Xand. For fuck's sake, I was tryin' to do ya a favor," Faith retorts.

"That right there wasn't about me and you know it," Xander tells her. Faith just arches an eyebrow at him and he goes on, "Now are you going to tell me what happened?"

Faith just folds her arms across her chest and says, "Nothin' to tell."

Xander scoffs, "Yeah, right."

"What the fuck do ya want me to say?!" Faith exclaims, getting fed up since Xander obviously isn't going to drop this. "I'm just pissed at her, alight?!"

"Why?"

"Cause she fuckin'…! Jesus, that _stupid_ ass dance…"

"You asked her to Homecoming?" Xander asks, looking surprised.

"No! She fuckin' asked _me!"_ Faith yells, picking up the bag of chips and throwing them across the room just so she can have something to take her rage out on. Chips scatter across the floor.

Xander looks at the chips on the floor and then turns to her, confused. "You're mad because she asked you?"

"No! I'm fuckin' pissed that she asked me and I said _yes!"_

"Wait so… you and Buffy are going to go to Homecoming together? Like as in a date; a real one?" he asks, shocked.

"No."

"Okay, now I'm confused."

"Ya think? Welcome to my fuckin' world," Faith says bitterly. "Bitch apparently decided that after I _actually_ decide to give a shit about her that we shouldn't go cause it'd 'complicate things'," she mocks. "Like the crap between us is gonna get less complicated by that load of bullshit."

Xander looks at her for a moment before crossing over to sit next to her on the bed again, apparently deciding its safe again to be near her. Faith just scowls and picks at the bed sheets, really hating that she just admitted all that. "So let me get this straight," he starts. "You… actually said yes to a real date?"

"No, not really. I don't fuckin' know. She said it'd be casual, just that we'd be going together. I don't know why I said yes; I plead temporary insanity."

"Well I can testify to that," Xander says with an amused smile, trying to turn the whole awkward dick grabbing moment into something laughable. Faith smirks along with him.

"I'll have my lawyer call ya as the first witness."

"See? I'm good for something," Xander says with a laugh.

"You'd be good for a lot if you cleaned up the chips on my floor," Faith says with a smirk as she looks at the mess.

"What do I look like; your maid? You're the one that threw them."

"Whatever. I'll just vacuum the shit later," Faith says. She lets out a sigh and rolls on her stomach, laying her head on her forearms as she focuses her attention back on the TV. At least she's already seen it, so she knows what's going on.

Then the phone rings. Faith groans.

"God, what the hell?" she grumbles as she sits up.

"It's probably Willow, checking to see if you're coming with us tonight," Xander says, then pause; "you _are _coming, right?"

"Said I dunno," Faith answers before reaching over for her phone. She picks it up and puts it to her ear, "What?"

"Is that seriously how you answer the phone?"

"Buffy?" Faith asks, surprised. Xander's eyebrows shoot into his hairline and both of them just look at each other.

"Hi."

"Uh… hi," Faith says, still not really comprehending the fact that Buffy just called her, mainly because she doesn't understand why she would. Xander gets up and points to the door, indicating he's going to leave to give her some privacy. Faith nods her head at him and he waves before he slips out quietly. "What's up?" she asks.

"I just… wanted to see if everything was okay. You didn't come back to train," Buffy starts, sounding a little nervous.

"Just didn't feel like it," Faith avoids.

"Oh," Buffy says, though Faith can't tell if she sounds disappointed or relieved. "That's… it?"

"Pretty much."

"So it had nothing to do with what happened in the bathroom?" Buffy asks, just to clarify matters.

"Don't really give a shit what happened in the bathroom, B."

"You don't? Yes you do," Buffy quickly revises, firm. She sighs. "Faith, don't be like this. Can't we be mature?"

"Fuckin' more mature than you and got the rack to prove it," Faith snaps, irritated. What right does she have to get on her high horse and start requesting _maturity?_

Faith could just picture Buffy rolling her eyes. "Yeah, because your freakishly adult looking body was what I was actually referring to, obviously," she says, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I meant mentally mature, Faith. You might have the body of a twenty five year old but your mind definitely hasn't caught up."

"Does this conversation have a point or should I just tell ya to fuck off now?"

Buffy sighs, willing herself to have patience. There's silence for a long moment and Faith thinks she hung up until she says, "I just… wanted to know if you were coming to The Bronze tonight."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I want us to be friends, Faith!" Buffy exclaims, exasperated. "And obviously it's not working out as well as either of us expected but we need to try."

"Why is that, exactly?" Faith asks, knowing she's being stubborn.

"We've had this conversation already," Buffy reminds her. "Remember? In Giles' office."

Faith sighs, leaning back against the headboard of her bed and pulling her knees up. She flicks the phone cord absentmindedly before admitting, "Yeah."

"Look, Faith. I'm sorry about… the bathroom," Buffy tells her quietly. "I shouldn't have done that because all it did was make things worse. It's just… sometimes I look at you and I—"

"Find I'm irresistible?" Faith teases with a smirk.

"No, shut up," Buffy says, laughing a little softly. "What I was _going _to say was that I guess I just forget that it's never going to work. So I'm… I'm sorry I did that."

"S'Cool, B. Ain't complainin'. Your tongue down my throat ain't the worst thing in the world, trust me."

There's a pause and Faith knows she just made Buffy blush so her smirk widens. "So… we're okay?" Buffy asks finally.

"Yeah, I guess."

For a moment Faith thinks Buffy's going to try to dissect the 'I guess' part of that sentence, but thankfully she just lets it go for once. "So are you going to come tonight?"

"Yeah, might as well," Faith says shrugging, "Always in the mood to dance and make some trouble."

"Good," Buffy says, and Faith can hear the smile in her voice. "Well, I mean good to the dancing, not the making trouble part. Um, so… I'll see you later?"

"Looks like."

"Great! That's… good. With the goodness and… I'm just going to go now," Buffy says, sounding a little embarrassed. "I'll see you in a couple hours."

"K, later."

"Bye."

Faith hangs up the phone, and then slides to lay down on her bed and sighs, looking at the ceiling. Why is it that Buffy can change her mind so quickly? She really was furiously pissed at her twenty minutes ago. God damnit. Well, one night of Bronzin' won't kill her.

But being 'just friends' with Buffy… that just might.

**TBC…**


	25. The Witch

**_A/N: I know, I know, it's been like eight months. I'm horrible. However, I decided my New Year's Resolution is to finish up a bunch of my unfinished fic, so I'll be working on this for awhile. This story is meant to be LONG though. Like, obnoxiously long. I'm only at the first arc out of three (plus some other sub arcs). So I can't guarantee I won't run off again, but I will always come back to it. I don't like to leave things unfinished._**

**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE  
****The Witch**

Being at the Bronze was weird without Trish there.

There's a small memorial over by the bar for both Trish and the bouncer, Jimmy, who died that night. Faith couldn't look at it very long without getting upset that she couldn't save either of them. She knows she's not the Slayer and that she didn't have all kinds of superpowers, but she still feels like she should have been able to do _something_; like maybe if she trained more or did something differently that it wouldn't have happened.

Buffy notices the look on Faith's face when she sees the memorial, instantly knowing that she's blaming herself. She nudges her gently with her arm to get her attention, and once she has it she tells her softly, "It wasn't your fault, you know."

Yeah, wasn't her fault. Right. Still fucking felt like it.

But like Faith does with everything else when confronted by emotion, she dismisses it with a "whatever" and walks away. Part of her appreciates what Buffy is trying to do, but she doesn't want to hear it just then. She'd rather wallow in her hole of pity and self-loathing right now, thanks. Logic has no place when guilt is involved; Faith's head can only handle so much at one time.

It also was weird being at the Bronze and not being able to drink. Faith never realized how much she took being served underage for granted, until it was gone. It wasn't just her though. The club had always been very loose when it came to checking identification, but ever since the incident with the Harvest, the rules started becoming strictly enforced. The owner hired more security (of course, because it'd be pretty fucking stupid not to after a mass slaughter like that) and was finally trying to clean up this shitty little hole of a club to make it more respectable. Faith didn't understand why he thought that would make a difference, but she wasn't about to ask either.

No point in talking to someone that was clearly delusional; waste of time.

Rumors circulated about that night; most people jumped onto the story about a cult gang of bikers doing some kind of ritual sacrifice and it just kind of took off from there. Faith didn't understand how people could be so fucking stupid about shit when it was clear as day in front of their faces. But then again, that's denial for you. Faith was intimately familiar with the term herself, though for very different reasons.

Speaking of the reason she's so intimately familiar with the term: Buffy walks over from where she was talking to Willow and Kennedy a moment previously, coming over to join Faith on the couches. They had steered clear of each other for about an hour after Buffy tried to comfort her at the memorial site, realizing then wouldn't be the best of times to attempt this whole buddy/buddy thing they needed to do. When Faith gets emotional, she gets volatile (which was probably a ridiculous understatement, but whatever. A bitch has to get out her feelings _somehow_).

But Faith realized brooding like an antisocial jackass isn't going to change a damn thing, so she tried to make herself have some fun. She danced a little and joked around with Xander, and now she was back to chilling by herself in the corner. She just… needed a minute alone. She was feeling kinda bad again about having fun when people were dead; seemed a little asshole-ish to her. But again, not like she can change the circumstances. Besides, she wasn't the only one trying to forget all the bad shit and attempting to get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Damn, she wishes she could just get drunk. It'd make things a whole lot simpler.

As Buffy plops down next to her – apparently deciding that enough time has passed so they should be social again – she takes a sip of her soda. The straw makes an obnoxious slurping noise that Faith can still hear over the music. She raises an eyebrow as she looks over at the blonde.

"Thirsty?" she asks, sounding a little amused as she states the obvious. Buffy just sighs.

"You know – and I know I'm going to sound like such a bad person for saying this because of, well, the circumstances – but I really miss alcohol."

"You and me both, babe," Faith responds, leaning back against the couch and stretching her legs out. She was overcompensating by trying to act normal around Buffy when all she feels is weird, so it probably looked a little forced. Buffy doesn't seem to notice though. "Guess we're gonna have to be like… fuckin' proper delinquent kids now; sneakin' the shit in, or drinkin' it behind the building before we come in." She smirks at her, hoping she's pulling off the casual friend thing better than she thinks she is.

Christ, when did she start over thinking everything? This bitch: not fucking her. _Get it together Faith. Who gives a crap that she rejected you when you accepted her date proposal? _Plenty more fish to eat, or however that saying goes.

Besides, the drama between them was really freaking irritating. And with a Big Bad on the horizon, it also kinda paled in comparison. So Faith tries to make with the nicey-nice. Which, let's face it, is probably the smartest thing she's done all week, so kudos to her, damnit.

"To sneak it in we'd actually have to have someone able to _buy_ it for us," Buffy says, looking at her pointedly. "And last I checked, none of us have magically acquired a fake ID." She pauses, then, "Unless I'm behind on the news, in which case I'll be annoyed that I wasn't included."

Buffy trying to buy liquor with a fake ID; the image was almost laughable.

"Ye of little faith," Faith puns, smirking. "My Mum keeps liquor in the motel all the time. Granted we can't take a ton, but at least it's something. Guess for next time though, since today seems to be the sober, boring day at the ranch." She waves her hands a little for a mock, party-like effect. "Woo," she says lifelessly.

Buffy smiles a little at her display before she shrugs. "You know, I never was much of a drinker until I found out I was the Slayer." She takes another sip of her soda before looking completely unsatisfied with it and sets it down. Apparently a Shirley Temple isn't gonna get her rocks off tonight. "I guess I never saw much of a point before. It seemed… sleazy; meant for the smelly and unemployed."

"Yeah well, I figure impending doom and certain death would change a person's perspective."

"Immensely," Buffy agrees with a tiny sigh. "Sometimes it's nice to not have to…" she pauses, searching for the word.

"Think?" Faith offers as she turns to face her on the couch, resting her elbow on the back of it and her head on her hand. She watches Buffy stare at her hands in her lap and shrug a little.

When she turns her head to look at Faith she has this little half frown as she admits, "Care." Her eyes find the couch again and she picks at some invisible lint as she asks, "Does that make me a horrible person? I know I'm duty and destiny girl and the whole world rests on my shoulders but sometimes I just… I need a _break."_ Her eyes meet Faith's once again. "I want to say 'forget being Chosen' and just live like a normal teenager. I want to get drunk and do stupid things; I want to fall in love and get my heart broken. I want to get caught up in the drama of who's dating who and not the drama of what demon is coming to kill us this week. If not forever, then just for a night."

"That doesn't make ya a horrible person, B; it makes you human," Faith tells her. Buffy still looks guilty though so Faith covers her hand with hers, holding it for a moment. Buffy purses her lips and looks up at her, and Faith tries like hell to keep this platonic even though Buffy's hand in hers makes her nerves tingle all the way up to her arm. But she smiles at her as she gets up, guiding Buffy to stand with her. "Come on, I'm sure our new little Potential has some liquor – she seems the type. We'll get ya trashed and you can fuck off destiny for a night. Can't guarantee you love, heartbreak, and drama, but I sure as fuck can help ya get drunk and do something stupid."

Buffy rolls her eyes at her, but smiles regardless; glad for her help in trying to cheer her up. She allows Faith to steer her towards Kennedy, Willow, and another blonde girl they're talking to. Buffy had started being somewhat more civil to Kennedy, at least after the drama in the bathroom. Then again, Faith hasn't been blatantly hitting on her in front of Buffy either.

"Sup guys; who's the chick?" Faith asks as she takes notice that they're not alone. The blonde ducks her head down and blushes, apparently not used to receiving much attention.

"This is my ex Tara," Kennedy introduces with a grin. "Tara; Faith and Buffy." Faith's eyebrows shoot up. Kennedy… with _this_ girl? She didn't know Kennedy all that well, but from first impressions it seems like she's all brass balls and Tara? She looked like the shyest person on the planet, which was a little hard to do when standing next to Willow.

Tara mumbles something inaudible behind her hair which Faith assumes is a 'hi.'

Faith never understood the concept of being friends with your exes. It just seemed like a whole lotta unnecessary drama. Besides, once you figure out a person isn't gonna make it through the long haul with you, why would you assume they could do so as your friend? Fucking stupid, if you asked her.

"You guys dated?" Buffy asks, curiously. She too seemed to take notice of the completely radical difference between the two girls. It's just a jacked concept to grasp.

"Yeah, when we were in sixth grade. Tara here was my first girlfriend," Kennedy responds, nudging Tara with her shoulder affectionately. Tara merely blushes in response. "We got bunked together in the dorms and, ya know, all girls school…" she trails off, smirking. Faith cocks an eyebrow and smirks back in response.

She would've killed to go to an all-girls school for that very reason. But those were usually private and it's not like her Mum was swimming in the dough or anything.

"You at SunnyD now too?" Faith asks Tara, since it was her school that burnt down as well. Tara nodded.

"Y-Yes…"

Ah, well at least Faith could hear _that_ response. Tara didn't make much eye contact with anyone and when she did, it was very briefly before ducking her head back down and hiding behind her hair. It was kinda endearing, in a way. Not that Faith's interested because… just _no_, but it was kinda sweet all the same. She was like practically attached to Kennedy as if she wouldn't know what to do if she was left alone with a bunch of people she didn't know. Kinda like a puppy only, you know, less furry.

"Tara's into magick too!" Willow announces proudly, grinning from ear to ear. Faith gives her a 'way to go' look and holds up her hand for a high five. Willow smacks it with excited enthusiasm.

"That's awesome, Red. Now ya can actually have someone who knows what the fuck you're always on about," Faith replies, smirking.

"Yeah, after Willow told me that she was into all the voodoo, I know I had to introduce her to Tara," Kennedy tells her, smiling. Then she addresses Faith, "Cause I'm with you; I don't know my head from my ass when it comes to that stuff. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to all the sage."

Faith snorts.

Buffy shoulder bumps her and when Faith looks at her questioningly, the blonde shoots her a pointed look. Did she forget something? She hasn't been flirting in front of her or anything; she's been a good girl; you know, trying not to cause unneeded drama and more bruises to her pretty face. Then again she's not drunk and horny so—oh! The liquor. Fucking duh.

Faith's gonna start blaming her lack of short term memory on all the blows Buffy has dealt to her head soon, even if she probably deserved at least half of them.

"Hey Ken," Faith starts, nodding her head a little as she steps away. "Side bar."

"I'll be right back," Kennedy tells Tara before she slips away. She follows Faith only a short ways before she asks, "What's up?"

"You got any liquor?" Faith asks, leaning against the bar and drumming her fingers on the edge. "B's getting' a little antsy; Slayer needs a break, y'know. Figured outta any of us, you'd be the best bet. All my shit's at the house."

"Sorry, I stopped keeping the stuff in my car after I got pulled over and sent to jail for… a variety of reasons. All the liquor I have access to now is at my parent's house; they have like a whole fucking cellar of the shit yet barely touch it. I'm starting to think they just like _collecting_ it or something. I don't know," Kennedy replies, shrugging and rolling her eyes a little. "My parents are weird."

"You drive?" Faith asks, eyebrows raised. "You're fifteen."

"Hence part of the reason I got sent to jail," Kennedy smirks. "Driving without a license, no insurance, expired tags, open liquor containers… yeah, it wasn't a fun night for anyone involved." She shrugs though noncommittally. "But my parents hired this ridiculously expensive lawyer who got me off with just some community service."

"Wicked," Faith responds, impressed. If she had parents like that, fuck knows she wouldn't have so many charges on her juvenile record. Then again, if she was living "lifestyles of the rich and famous" she probably wouldn't be such a delinquent either. But whatever. Point was, Kennedy didn't have any liquor so she needed to inform B.

"B!" she hollers to her. Buffy looks up, raising her eyebrows expectantly. But after Faith shakes her head, she deflates a little. She gives her a kind of 'thanks for trying' look before she turns and started talking to Willow and Tara. Faith watches them for a moment before she mentions to Kennedy, "So… you and T then? How'd that happen?"

Kennedy shrugs, "She was sweet. Like, really fucking sweet. I don't know; I love her to death, I do. She's one of my best friends now. But we both realized that we weren't as attracted to each other in that way than we originally thought. We work way better as friends."

"Just seems kinda… like a weird match," Faith notes, glancing at her. Kennedy smirks.

"Why? Because we're so different? I don't know, I guess sometimes you need someone to balance you out. I mean, look at you and Buffy."

Faith raises an eyebrow a little defensively. "What do you mean 'look at me and B?'"

"You mean you guys aren't together?" Kennedy asks, surprised. Faith gives her a look like she must be smoking crack and Kennedy explains, "I just thought with the way she got pissy at you and me when we were talking earlier that she was just being territorial. I mean, I can't blame her. _I'd _be territorial over you were my girl." Kennedy gives her a flirty look.

"Yeah, but that's the problem. B wanted something, you know, like monogamous and serious. I didn't. I don't do that," Faith tells her. She might as well warn her ahead of time, just in case. She didn't need another dramatic storyline added to her life. "I just fuck and leave; that's it."

"Sound fulfilling," Kennedy responds, though she holds a hint of sarcasm behind her words.

Faith shrugs. "Always worked for me. I see no reason to change it." Her eyes scan the crowd for a moment before she furrows her eyebrows and asks, "Where's Xander?" She hasn't seen him in awhile.

"Last I saw him he said he had to go to the bathroom. That was like, a half an hour ago though," Kennedy replies, shrugging. She too starts looking through the crowd.

"Fuck," Faith swears before she starts heading towards Buffy. "If he managed to get himself eaten, I'll fuckin' kill him." After the last time they were at the Bronze, someone disappearing for a long period of time was a definite cause for alarm. Faith tries to make sure she doesn't get too panicky though; she'll be no use to anyone if she ends up having a fucking panic attack in the corner.

"B," Faith says, putting her hand on Buffy's shoulder to turn her around. "Where the fuck is Xander?"

Buffy looks confused. "I don't know, last I saw him he was with you." Then realization sets in of what could have possibly happened and she swears, "Shit. We need to split up and find him." She nods at Faith and Kennedy as she checks, "Stakes?"

"Got 'em," Faith answers as Kennedy nods. "Split up and meet here in ten?" she asks.

"Good plan. But please, if you get into something you know you can't handle, find me instead of going all suicidal," Buffy pleads, knowing how Faith can get. But fuck, if vamps have her friend, there ain't no way she's gonna waste time trying to find Buffy. She nods, agreeing, even though she doesn't plan to if the situation arises.

Willow looks alarmed. "D-Do you really think he could be…?" she trails off, looking sick. Faith puts her arm around her friend for a second, trying be some source of comfort, no matter how small.

"It's probably nothing," she assures her. "He probably just found some tail to drool over." She wishes her words were more convincing, but she's worried herself.

Willow doesn't look like that made any difference at all.

"Alright, let's motor," Faith says, wishing her heart wasn't feeling like it was gonna beat out of her chest. But just then she hears Xander ask:

"Where are we going?"

Everyone turns to look at Xander behind them in a mixture of relief and anger. Faith shoves him hard. "Don't _fuckin'_ do that!" Christ, she was too young to have a heart attack.

"Ow! Do _what?_ I just got here!" Xander protests, rubbing his chest like Faith mortally wounded him.

"Do what? Fuckin' be MIA, that's what! We thought some vamp was snackin' off you. Where _were _you?" Faith demands.

Xander looks completely awkward as he stutters, "Just… y-you know, bathroom and stuff. I wasn't feeling good." He shifts his eyes to the left, looking uncomfortable and embarrassed.

Liar. He was hiding something, but then again he has been acting like a spaz lately. Faith makes a mental note to investigate that later.

"Oh, we're so glad you're _okay!"_ Willow exclaims, practically jumping on Xander to envelop him in a hug. Xander's eyes go wide and he awkwardly pats her on the back, still not understanding the big deal.

"I'm okay, Wills. It was just a stomach virus; I'm not Mr. Dead Man or anything. See? Still alive and kicking."

Faith flicks his forehead with her fingers, which makes him flinch. "Asshole," she says flatly. She seriously didn't need that kind of stress today. If she starts going gray, she's gonna punch him in the dick.

After that, the rest of the night was relatively uneventful. Which really, after that little scare, she was thankful for. The group left the Bronze around eleven, needing to get back home for school in the morning. As they said their goodbyes, Faith leaned against the brick wall, figuring she'd say bye last since Buffy was gonna walk her home anyway. Kennedy came up to her, leaning against the wall to her left as she watches Willow and Tara talk excitedly and Buffy scold Xander for running off without saying anything.

"So," Kennedy starts, still looking at their friends. "You up for keeping the party going a little longer?"

Faith glances at her out of the corner of her eye and smirks. "Have anything specific in mind?" She doesn't know why she bothered to ask; she already had a pretty good idea what Kennedy meant.

"Coming back to yours?"

Faith looks amused as she states, "Forward, aren't ya?" Kennedy shrugs, looking a little pleased with her directness. She turns to face her as her eyes swoop down Faith's body, before they went back up to train on her face.

"I try not to cut corners," she replies simply.

"Yeah well, I'm tryin' to not start any drama," Faith replies, sounding disappointed. She would love to; _fuck _would she love to. A good lay would get her mind off of other shit. But if Faith ditches Buffy to go screw Kennedy? Shit would rain down.

"Buffy?" Kennedy inquires.

"Would kill me," Faith finishes.

"Why? You're not hers."

Faith glances at her, staying silent for a moment as she weighs the pros and cons of the situation. "B's walkin' me home. So if ya really wanna get tied up in this shit, meet me at mine in an hour."

Kennedy smirks, enjoying her win. "Don't worry, I won't tell her."

"Better not. Bitch can kill both of us without exerting much effort," Faith responds, but meets Kennedy's smirk with one of her own. "But like you said, I'm not hers. So what she doesn't know won't hurt her, the way I figure it."

"Give me your address then," Kennedy requests. "I'll be there in an hour." She pulls a pen out from her back pocket and hands it to her. Faith writes her address on Kennedy's hand.

"Don't be late," she tells her, giving her a suggestive look. God, yeah, she really did need this. It's been far too long since she's felt someone's sweaty, naked body against her. Kennedy laughs.

"Trust me, I don't plan on it."

As Kennedy walks away, Faith watches her go. She knows this is probably a bad idea, but a girl's gotta get off, doesn't she? Besides, as long as Buffy doesn't get wind of her extracurricular activities, there shouldn't be any harm. Like Buffy said, she just doesn't want to _see_ her all over Kennedy. Which is perfectly doable, since she's got her motel room for that.

This better not backfire. Because if Faith can't get her rocks off anymore, she's about to become one _insufferable_ cunt.

**TBC…**


	26. Fun Sucker

**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX  
****Fun Sucker**

Unfortunately, Faith didn't end up fucking Kennedy that night.

It was all going so well too; Faith had Kennedy pinned against her door, her hands tugging on her belt while Kennedy unhooked her bra. The fabric fell to the floor just as Kennedy's hands enveloped her breasts, having no hesitation about getting to know Faith's body as intimately as she could. Tongues intertwining, low groans that echoed each other's desire, and no conscience to speak of. It was just pure lust and both of them knew it wasn't anything more than the physical. It was only about the need to touch and to be touched and as their breathing got louder, more ragged, with every moment that passed, Faith was more than ready to get this show on the road.

Slow was for people who gave a fuck about anything else besides orgasms.

When Faith finally pulls off the annoying piece of material that is Kennedy's shirt, she slips her hand over Kennedy's bra-clad breast, squeezing it enough to emit a small gasp from Kennedy's lips. Her hand doesn't linger there though; she slides it over her tanned chest and up her throat before she squeezes beneath her chin, forcefully turning her head to the side as her mouth becomes intimately acquainted with her neck. Kennedy allows her to do what she wants; easily slipping into the role of submissive as Faith's other hand reaches around to unclasp her bra. There were far too many clothes in this scenario for her liking.

But because God (or whoever) likes to shit on her parade, they're interrupted by the door opening. Not the one they're up against; the one connecting Faith's room with her Mother's.

"Fai?" she asks, peering in. She's greeted by the sight of her half naked daughter and her half naked friend and leans against the threshold of the doorway, folding her arms in front of her chest.

Kennedy nearly has a shit fit and grabs her shirt in a fit of embarrassment, covering herself. Faith on the other hand just turns to face her, not at all fazed by her lack of clothes in front of her mother. Embarrassment about shit like that is meant for kids who aren't close with their parents.

…No, not like that, you sick pedo-loving bastard.

But there had been many times where both of them had seen each other at their worst and more often than not those times seemed to include a lack of clothing. Maybe when you feel like you're breaking apart, it's just appropriate to be naked; vulnerable. So no, Faith isn't phased by it. She is really fucking annoyed that she just got interrupted, however. "Fuck, Mum. Haven't you heard of knocking?"

"Who's your friend?" Caroline asks, raising an eyebrow in a disapproving manner that makes Kennedy look thoroughly ashamed. "She doesn't look like Buffy."

"Christ Mum, will you get off that shit? For fuck's sake, me and B ain't like that. If you like her so much why don't _you _date her?" Faith snaps, grabbing her clothing off the ground and throwing it on her bed in a fit. She looks up at her. "What do you want? I'm busy, obviously."

Caroline doesn't look amused by her attitude, but answers. "I need you to run to the store."

Faith stares back at her, disbelievingly. She knows what that means; her mum needs more shit. No way was she gonna go over to Leering Larry's this late at night. "Are you fuckin' serious? It's like, midnight."

"I'm out of sugar," Caroline says flatly.

"Maybe I should go…" Kennedy starts, looking incredibly awkward about being interrupted by Faith's mother. She turns her back to them and throws on her shirt as Faith chews on the inside of her cheek, irritated.

"Nah, stay," she tells her, but doesn't take her eyes off her mother. "If you need sugar that badly why don't _you_ go?"

Caroline gives her a tired look. Faith knows why she can't go; she'll end up camping out and doing more coke than she can even afford. Last time she tried to trade ass for blow with Larry, Faith nearly had an aneurysm. The thought of her mother being touched by that slime ball set her off like nothing else. Maybe her mum didn't have the best taste in men, but Faith damn well knew she could do better than _him._

"Faith," she says, pointedly. Faith lets out a loud, aggravated sigh, practically slamming her hand down on the bed as she picks up her shirt, putting it on almost violently.

"Fuck, fine. But you so owe me," Faith responds. Caroline gives her a thankful look and leaves, closing the door behind her. Faith lets out a loud sigh and turns to Kennedy. "Sorry," is all she offers. She didn't know what else to say. This blows, no pun intended.

"It's alright," Kennedy responds, still looking a little awkward. But she shrugs it off and asks, "Rain check?"

"Definitely."

"You need a ride to the store?" Kennedy asks and she picks up her bra, but doesn't move to put it on. Isn't much of a point when her shirt's already on.

"Nah, it's a short walk. Plus, pissed and horny; probably need the fresh air."

"Mm," Kennedy affirms. She lets out a breath though before she leans in, kissing Faith softly on the lips. "Call me?" she asks, eyebrows raised expectantly.

Faith raises hers in return. That sounded so—

Kennedy seems to read the look on Faith's face and smirks. "Not in the clingy way, Miss Egotistical; I mean call me as in the booty variety." Oh, booty call. Yeah, Faith figures that's definitely arrangeable. "Trust me, you're hot and everything, but I'm smart enough to know when someone's only looking for the physical," she finishes.

"Then count on it," Faith tells her with a smirk. See; why couldn't all women be this agreeable to her terms? Faith is pretty sure that if they were, then everyone would be a lot fucking happier. Cause, y'know, of all the mind-blowing orgasms and none of the drama. Scenario; best, right? If only she could convince Buffy of that.

But then again, taking Buffy's girl-virginity is kinda a big deal and Faith's sure that even if Buffy found her suddenly agreeable to a relationship based solely on getting naked and sweaty, she'd still end up getting herself attached. It really sucks, but then again, it's not like that's even an option now; they're taking a leaf out of the friends handbook, and sadly not the version that includes benefits.

Shouldn't every friendship include benefits? It should be some kinda law.

Then again if that were true then she'd be required to fuck Xander and Willow and that's enough to make her brain bleed. Faith's so lost in her thoughts that she barely notices Kennedy leave. When she hears her car roar to life she snaps out of the disturbing image in her head of her and a naked Willow and Xander having some sort of twisted threesome. Shaking her head as she steps out of her motel room, she closes the door behind her.

Has she mentioned lately how much she hates be the designated drug runner?

* * *

School was uneventful, up until the end of it. Like always, all of them were hoarded into the library like some kind of herd of demon-fighting cattle. It had become so ritualistic to never actually leave school until at least six pm that Faith gave up all hope weeks ago to have any kind of social life directly after school. Then again, all her friends were _here_ so it's not like any of them were out having the time of their lives either. With the Master popping up and making everything turn to shit, there wasn't much time for fun.

Buffy and Faith were sparring on the mats while Wesley was attempting to make Kennedy shoot a crossbow in any direction that wasn't at _him_. Giles, Xander, and Willow were pouring over the books again, trying to find any other references to the Master. They stopped the Harvest, sure, but that didn't mean they stopped the massive shit storm that was still brewing.

Faith was sweating bullets only a half hour into their sparring session while Buffy didn't look the least bit fazed. It was aggravating, in more ways than one. Mainly because she was trying to be a little cocky show off for Kennedy ("I'll show ya how to take down a Slayer," she murmured to her before they started) only to now have her ass getting intimately acquainted with the mat on the floor. Repeatedly. The worst part was, the more aggro Faith got, the more amused Buffy seemed.

Buffy reaches down, holding out her hand to help Faith up after another embarrassing loss. Faith bites her cheek and holds her hand out, but before Buffy can grab it she tries to be sneaky; sweeping her leg underneath Buffy to trip her up (because she'd feel a lot better if she was on the floor _with_ her instead of standing over her all smug all the time). But Buffy sees it coming and easily jumps up before Faith's foot can make contact. Now they're back where they started; Buffy standing over her trying to help her up.

"Nice try," she says, smirking.

Faith bangs her head down onto the mat and sighs. This was not her day. She was just distracted; wound up with all this tension and with nowhere to release it. At least not yet. They still had a couple more hours of training to do before Faith can even fathom sticking her tongue so far up Kennedy's cunt that the girl cums a goddamn rainbow.

"This is bullshit," Faith tells her as she reluctantly lets Buffy help her to her feet. She massages her sore shoulder and wishes she could tend to her bruised ego. Not that Kennedy was making much of an impression herself; she just impaled one of Giles' bookshelves with the crossbow when she was aiming for a target that was five feet to the left.

Wesley starts lecturing her, which Faith has already learned to ignore. It's amazing how easy her brain could just switch his droning voice off like a light.

"You need to concentrate, Faith," Buffy tells her as she walks over to the bookshelf, easily pulling out the embedded arrow and handing it back to an embarrassed Kennedy. But she barely pays her any attention; she's looking at Faith. "You're head is all off in La La Land or something. You don't usually go down _this_ easy."

"La La Land is a little too PG for where my head's at right now," Faith replies. She sees Kennedy look at her out of the corner of her eye, but Buffy doesn't take notice of it. She, apparently, thinks she's talking about _her._

Which, to be fair, if it was any other day but today, she probably would have been.

"Faith," Buffy sighs. "Don't go there." Faith doesn't say anything, but not for a lack of comeback. She was just afraid how much trouble that comeback would get her into. She's advocating for a drama-free lifestyle, so she unfortunately needs to learn how to keep her mouth shut. She grinds her teeth instead, just trying to stop the words 'who said I was thinking about you?' from falling from her lips.

"Now come on," Buffy says, stepping back into a fighting stance. "Come at me like you mean it this time. I'd like to actually get _some_ kind of workout before the day is over."

Faith's eyes flash. Excuse her? It ain't her fault she doesn't have super strength, but she sure as fuck isn't gonna be passed off as a weakling for her lack of it either. Focusing all her attention on Buffy, she comes at her. This time she favors her speed so as to counter Buffy's freakish strength and after a couple swings that didn't connect on either side, Faith uses Buffy's leverage and momentum together, dodging at the very last second so Buffy pitches forward a little, off balance. Faith's elbow collides with Buffy's back; her first actual hit of the day.

Her victory was short lived though as Buffy's leg sweeps under hers and she goes down… but not before grabbing onto Buffy's shirt so she tumbled down with her. She was not gonna be the only person on the ground this time, damnit. Buffy shrieks a little as she falls unceremoniously on top of Faith.

Winner!

Sorta.

"Watch the hands, B," Faith teases as Buffy tries to get off of her, all while inadvertently groping her breast. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were makin' a play." Buffy flushed red and smacks Faith on the stomach. She coughs from the blow. Buffy seriously needs to remember her little girly smacks aren't delicate anymore.

"Shut up, perv. It's your fault I'm down here; that was totally unfair!" Buffy tells her as she picks herself up off the ground. She reluctantly lends a hand to help up Faith, but doesn't look too pleased by extending the friendly gesture.

"Buffy, if you believe vampires will play 'fair', then I do believe you are far more behind on your training than I feared," Wesley pipes up, being all British, stuffy, and virginal. Kennedy shoots the crossbow and it impales itself on another bookshelf near them, which makes Wesley nearly jump out of his skin before he composes himself with a tiny cough, straightening his tweed suit. "I think that will be enough for now, Kennedy." He gingerly takes the crossbow out of her hand like he's afraid she'll somehow make it go off with the power of her mind.

This dude's a trip, and not in the fun drug kind of way.

Faith just rolls her eyes at Wesley's little assessment of Buffy, but she of course has something to say. "Really? You mean vampires _don't_ have a rule book like we do?" Buffy asks, feigning ignorance. But she rolls her eyes and turns to Giles. "Giles, tell him not to speak to me," she half requests, half whines.

"I won't do that. However, Wesley, I do wish you wouldn't chastise my Slayer when she is merely bantering with Faith. Believe me when I tell you Buffy is more than aware that vampires do not play _fair,"_ Giles responds, looking unamused.

"She is _our_ Slayer," Wesley corrects in a self-righteous tone.

"I was Giles' first," Buffy retorts, shooting Wesley a seething look before she grabs a towel, putting it around her neck as she grabs a sword, throwing it at Faith. She barely catches it as Buffy takes one of her own.

"Buffy," Giles says in a disapproving tone, watching her trying to move up to swords with Faith without his say so. "No weapons."

"Giles, I need to do _something_," Buffy whines, stomping her foot for effect. "I'm not getting anything out of this because Faith refuses to put her ADD on hold. I figured she'd have to pay at least a little more attention if imminent death by sharp objects were involved."

While Faith would normally be offended by Buffy thinking a hand-to-hand workout with her wasn't up to her Slayer-sized standards, frankly she's thankful for Giles' interruption. She'd probably end up beheaded in five minutes flat; she wasn't exactly skilled when it came to swordplay, even when she _wasn't_ being the poster child for Adderall.

"I need to speak with you anyhow. You and Faith should take a five minute break and then I'll work on swords with you whilst Faith spars with Kennedy," Giles tells her, trying to compensate. Buffy looks disappointed but throws down her sword reluctantly, sighing. It clatters to the ground.

Faith grabs her towel and starts wiping off her sweat as she watches Buffy flop down on the seat next to Giles; obviously worked up and annoyed that she wasn't able to get enough of her energy out. "What's the what?" she asks, though sounds unenthused.

"I've been over and over the note that the Zan'Hurrak sent, and I'm beginning to fear that we're running out of time," Giles says, dropping that bombshell on everyone in one big swoop.

"Exactly how much time are we talkin'?" Faith asks, joining in the conversation. Giles sighs.

"Less than two weeks," Giles tells them soberly as he rubs the bridge of his nose. "Or to be more precise… ten days."

Everyone just stares at him.

"Excuse me," Wesley's annoying little voice butts into the conversation uninvited. "But how, may I ask, did you come to this radical conclusion?" He sounds like he doesn't believe a word Giles is saying and it makes Faith want to junk punch him. Giles wouldn't _lie_ to them; he's about the most standup, honest dude she knows.

Giles looks peeved by his choice of words, but then again, so does the rest of the room. "The Zan'Hurrak said that 'all would be kept safe until a fortnight before the splitting,'" he explained. "Seeing as how many deaths were involved in the Harvest, I feel it's safe to assume that that is where our time frame begins."

"But you can't possibly know that's what they meant," Wesley argues. "The Zan'Hurrak could have been referring to if or when the Master rises; as I'm sure that would constitute as a fitting… blood bath, for lack of a better term."

"Way to keep the faith that B can stop that before it happens," Faith snaps, aggravated. Who was he to just come in here and start _doubting _everyone? That's the last thing they fucking needed right now.

"And what if you're _wrong?"_ Giles retorts. "What if we wait, only to find that the 'splitting' they speak of somehow refers to the Master trying to rise again? We must be prepared!"

Wesley looks miffed, but relents. "Then we shall double the girls' training schedule; prepare them."

All three girls groan at that, but they all knew that it was probably needed. But between school, homework, and the training schedule they had already; it hardly allowed time for any _real _fun to be had. All work and no play is bound to make them all go fucking nuts, especially if they all might _die_ soon.

"We need to start focusing our efforts on this 'Anointed One'," Giles tells him, clearly hating that he now has someone around to challenge his authority. "The girls should train, yes, but if the Anointed does rise from the ashes of the Five, he will be a powerful ally to the Master and we cannot afford for him to gain that kind of considerable strength."

"Especially since I 'will not know him'," Buffy quotes from the passage Giles told them about a week ago.

"And you 'will not stop him'," Faith adds. Buffy gives her a look of disbelief and annoyance.

"Thanks, Faith," she responds dryly. Faith shrugs.

"Just saying."

It is what it is. Doesn't mean Faith was rooting for the bad guy, it's just what the damn piece of paper said.

"Be that as it may, how do we not know that the Anointed hasn't already rose?" Wesley counters. Giles slams his hands down on the table, making everyone jump.

"Because we have to believe it!" he shouts, clearly fed up with Wesley's input. "We have to have hope!" The unspoken 'it may be the only thing we have left' lingered in the room.

Silence washes over the Library for a moment. No one had ever seen Giles shout like that; it was kinda disconcerting… and a little hot. Well, least for an old dude. Faith is the first one to clear her throat before she speaks.

"I'm with G. Optimism won't make us feel like complete losers at least; fuckin' gotta count for something. And so what if this bitch _did_ rise already? B will lay the smack down on it without breakin' a sweat, so chill with your counterproductive attitude, Wes." Buffy looks at her appreciatively before she holds out her hand for a moral high-five, which Faith gives her.

"You suck the fun out of the room," Buffy informs him, to which Faith adds, pointing at him accusingly:

"Fun sucker."

Kennedy snorts as Wesley looks over at Giles, exasperated by the slew of teenagers contradicting him. But it wasn't like Giles was in any mood to help Wesley out, so Faith didn't see why he even bothered. Willow and Xander were looking at each other, trying not to laugh. Even Giles seemed a little amused by Buffy and Faith, which at least broke the tension in the room.

Giles takes off his glasses as he rubs his eyes, thinking. Finally he says, "Whichever of us is correct, we still do not have very much time. A heavier training schedule would be preferable, however Wesley you must realize that they are not just 'the Slayer and two potentials'; they are teenager girls and thus need to keep up with their studies as well as having a bit of free time. We can't become overzealous, it very well may backfire."

"Surely you can't prioritize their studies and their social lives over a possible apocalypse!" Wesley exclaims, shocked.

"I don't prioritize them, but I'm not going to deny them of that right either. They are not just the Council's _tools,"_ Giles tells him firmly. Faith has the urge to cheer him on, but figured that'd be vastly inappropriate so she just sits back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table and giving Wesley a smug look. However, with a light _cluck, cluck_ of disapproval from Giles, Faith frowns and slides her boots off the furniture.

She can never get away with that.

The discussion ceases shortly afterwards, and the girls went back to training while Willow and Xander continued to research. Faith enjoyed sparring with Kennedy much more, though mainly because she could _finally_ whoop some ass. Kennedy was good, but she wasn't as trained as Faith was.

After they all start to disperse for the night, Kennedy walks up to Faith while she was at her locker, idly leaning it against it. "You free tonight?" she asks casually, even though her meaning was clear. Faith sighs as she stuffs some of her books into her bag.

"Fuckin' wish," she tells her. "But Red's coming over to help me study for that English test tomorrow. Apparently she don't think I got a basic enough grasp of the _only_ language I speak." Maybe they could hang out afterwards, but she did have to account for sleep at _some _point. Today's training session kind of kicked her ass.

Kennedy smirks, amused by Faith's horrible grammar while she attempted to defend herself. "Well I have the test too," she mentions, motioning to her own bag. "Mind a study group?"

"Cool with me, I'll double check with Red though," Faith says as she zips up her backpack. "I'll hit ya up either way though."

"Awesome," Kennedy says smiling, her eyes sweeping down Faith's form for one, quick moment before her eyes met her again. "See you later then, hopefully." When Kennedy turns to walk away, Faith's eyes trail over her ass. She didn't realize she was staring until she heard her name being called from behind her.

"Faith!"

Faith whips around quickly, preferring to not being caught ogling by Buffy, but she turns a little too fast to estimate distance properly and ends up smacking her forehead on the open locker. "Fuck!" she shouts, pressing her hand to her forehead. Buffy jaw drops for a moment before she starts giggling up a storm.

"Fuck you," Faith retorts, grumpy as she rubs the forming lump on her forehead. She slams her locker shut angrily.

"Sorry, but that was funny," Buffy tells her, giggling as she walks over to her. Faith just scowls at her as Buffy gives her a lopsided grin as she reaches up, moving Faith's hand away.

"Let me see," she encourages, surveying the damage. Faith narrows her eyes at her but allows it and after more touching than the situation actually called for, Buffy told her, "You'll live."

"No shit," Faith responds dryly, stepping away from her so Buffy would stop dragging her fingers across her skin. It was distracting.

Buffy tugs on her book bag a little as she mentions, "So Willow said something about a study session tonight. I'm really behind in English and wouldn't mind the extra help. Do you mind if I tag along?"

Great. That's… great. Not that she didn't want to hang around Buffy, but there would be no sneaky excuses for Kennedy to stay the night if she was around. They always studied in her motel room; they practically did everything there.

"Yeah, s'cool," Faith replies, shrugging. "You ridin' with Red?"

"Yeah, she said we'd meet you at your place at eight? If that's okay. I think Xander might come too, but I'm not sure. He seems to be a bit off in his own world lately."

Well, that was true. After second period Faith nearly scared Xander half to death when she interrupted his staring off into space contest. He was just staring down the hall as the students passed, looking a little out of it. Faith hopes he hasn't started getting stoned or something; Xander couldn't afford the stoner lifestyle with how behind he tended to get on schoolwork already.

"Yeah, eight's fine," Faith tells her. Well, fuck. At least studying won't be boring if they're all there. That's gotta count for something.

"Great," Buffy says, smiling at her a little shyly. "So… I'll see you then?" She's looking at her in a way Faith doesn't understand; like she expects something.

"Obviously, B," Faith replies. That _was _obvious, wasn't it? Like, in the realm of 'pointless question' kind of obvious. Buffy rolls her eyes at her response and pokes her in the arm hard (so hard it felt like she was pressing into her bone with her nail) before she walks past her, heading off to meet up with Willow. Faith winces at the contact and once Buffy's out of sight she frowns, rubbing her arm.

Damn, what did she say?

_Women._

**TBC…**


	27. Master of the Remote

**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN  
****Master of the Remote**

'Studying' was more like a group hang out than anything else. Willow was trying to advocate some serious learning time, but it kind of gave way to movies and snacks as the books were eventually tossed to the side, forgotten about.

Faith's on her stomach on the bed with Buffy and Willow on either side of her while Kennedy and Xander relax on the floor, flipping through Faith's comic book collection and joking about her geekiness. Faith retaliates by throwing chips at them, some of which get stuck in Kennedy's hair. "The fuck!" Kennedy exclaims, combing her fingers through her hair to get them out while the other's laugh.

Buffy swipes the remote out of Faith's hand suddenly, to which Faith responds with a, "Hey!"

"This movie sucks, Faith. The last thing I want to see in my free time is blood and gore, I get enough of that every night." Buffy tells her, flipping through the channels. Faith makes a swipe for it but it's held out of her reach.

"Saw is a fuckin' classic, Buffy," she protests, making another swipe for the remote.

Failure.

"A classic?" Buffy repeats, mocking her term. She scoffs, as if the concept is ridiculous. "A classic is Gone With The Wind, not this garbage." She holds out the remote tauntingly as Faith makes another swipe. "No, Faith. We're not watching this."

"Saw's a good movie, Buffy," Kennedy protests as she gets the last chip out of her hair before she throws it at a sniggering Xander. It smacks him on the forehead. He rubs it with a look of annoyance as he picks himself up off of the floor, heading across the room.

"I agree with Buffy," Willow pipes up, making a disgruntled face as she thinks about what was just on the television. "T-That was gruesome, Faith. "

"Don't be a pussy, Red," Faith responds distracted as a determined look crosses her face right before she practically tackles Buffy for the remote. Her body connects with Buffy fast and hard and the momentum sends them flying off the bed, onto the floor. Faith's a little sore from the fall but as her friends laugh at their wrestling, she tries to get leverage by getting on top of Buffy, but in what seems like a blink of an eye Buffy has her pinned to the floor, her hand holding_ both_ of Faith's above her head while her other hand holds the remote over her face, taunting her with a smirk on her face.

"_Slayer,"_ she reminds her smugly. Faith looks up at her, peeved. But then she smirks and rolls her hips into her, knowing it's going to throw her off her game.

"Didn't know you were into a little kink, B. I'm not usually someone's bitch, but I could make the exception." She smirks at her as Buffy turns about four shades of red and practically flies off of her, obviously not wanting to give the wrong impression. That gives Faith the opportunity she needs to grab the remote from her.

She scrambles to her feet as Buffy's jaw drops, "Hey! Faith, no!" She's on her feet quickly, but Faith's quicker and she runs into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and locking it.

"Good job, genius," Buffy tells her through the door as she bangs on it once. "You can't change the channel from in there!"

But Faith isn't listening, because suddenly there's a shout behind her and she whips around, seeing Xander standing over the toilet with his dick hanging out as he tries to pee. The interruption startles him as he misses the toilet completely. "FAITH!" he exclaims, embarrassed as he tries to cover himself.

"Ahh!" Faith shouts, pretty sure she's scarred for life now that she's seen her friend's cock. There are just some things that needed to be kept a mystery. "Fuck! Jesus Xander, when the hell did you get in here?"

She can hear laughing from outside the door.

"I needed to pee!" Xander exclaims, stating the obvious as he zips up his pants, his face as bright as a tomato.

"Fuckin' Christ. You're cleaning up where you missed, y'know! I ain't doin' it!" Faith tells him, feeling incredibly disturbed as she practically flies out of the bathroom. She's pretty sure Xander accidentally peed on her wall when she startled him. The second she's out of the bathroom the remote is swiped from her hand, but she doesn't care.

She never needed to see Xander's dick. _Ever._ Sure she tried to fuck him the other day when she was all… retarded; but her? Lesbian. Penises tended to scar her already damaged young mind.

Kennedy was on the floor practically rolling with laugher, as was Buffy. Willow looked halfway between embarrassed for the both of them and amused and Faith grabbed a rag in a huff, throwing it to Xander in the bathroom. "Clean," she instructs. Xander mumbles an embarrassed reply.

"That was the funniest shit I've seen all day," Kennedy tells her as she laughs, far too amused by this situation for Faith's liking. Faith flips her off.

"Yeah, nevermind the fact I'm probably scarred for life," she replies flatly.

"_You?"_ comes Xander's voice from inside the bathroom, an octave or two higher than usual. It only makes Kennedy laugh harder. Faith points at Buffy accusingly.

"This is your fault."

Buffy laughs as she sits on the bed. "I didn't tell you to run in the bathroom! You did that all on your own." She holds up the remote, taunting her with it. "And I won anyway, so it wasn't even worth it." Buffy gives her a smug look, but it's only for a moment before Faith decides the psychological damage both she and Xander received shouldn't be for nothing. She lunges at her.

"Faith!" Willow exclaims as she's almost hit by her propelling body, jumping off the bed just in time so as to not get caught in the crossfire.

Buffy laughs. "Come and get some, weakling," she taunts, dodging just in time so Faith merely flies onto the bed, but not on top of her. Buffy tries to pin her but her arm gets in the way and Faith bites it, not about to fight fair. She has the strength disadvantage, after all. "Ow!" Buffy protests, taking her arm away in shock that Faith actually _bit_ her.

"I'll show you weak, Princess," Faith promises as she tackles her like a line backer, head under Buffy's arm as her arms wrap around her torso, pushing her backwards.

As they wrestle on the bed, Xander comes out of the bathroom looking at the scene before him with disbelief, amusement, and some residual embarrassment from before.

"Ten bucks on Buffy," Kennedy says casually, proposing the offer to Xander.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ken," Faith croaks out just as Buffy grasps her arm, pinning it behind her back as she uses her body weight to get Faith off of her.

"Sorry, but she's the Slayer," Kennedy replies, amused.

"Nah, I got my money on Faith," Xander replies, taking the bet. "She's deceptively sneaky."

"Guys! Y-You're going to break something!" Willow exclaims, but a little too late as Faith's leg hits the lamp on the bedside table and it smashes to the ground.

"Thanks Xand," Faith replies, out of breath and losing quite quickly as Buffy pushes her backwards. "I'll tell everyone your cock is huge." Fair trade right? Xander turns beat red though just as Buffy successfully gets Faith on her back, but she reaches up and starts running her fingers along Buffy's sides, hoping she was ticklish. It was the only thing she could actually do in this position.

Success.

Buffy starts giggling, trying to swat her away. "Stop! That's not fair!" Faith picks herself up off the bed once Buffy's off of her, trying to get her to stop by franticly slapping away her hands.

"See? Sneaky," Xander affirms. Willow has her hands over her eyes; afraid they were going to break something else.

"All's fair, babe," Faith replies, a smug look of her own now as she mercilessly tickles Buffy into submission. Buffy was trying to get her off of her, but her strength must have been hindered by how much she was laughing because she was failing miserably.

"Come on, Buffy! You're going to lose me ten bucks!" Kennedy complains.

"She's… not… fighting… fair!" Buffy gasps out through laughs. She does finally push Faith's hands off of her, but only for a second before Faith comes right back around, grasping Buffy's wrists as she uses her whole body to pin her to the bed.

"Okay, okay! Truce!" Buffy exclaims, allowing Faith to pin her there just because that means her hands aren't tickling her so hard that she's nearly about to pee herself. Her breathing is ragged and she looks up at Faith, who just smirks down at her.

"No truce," Faith tells her, smug. "I win."

"Fine, fine, you win," Buffy says through gasps of much needed air. Kennedy reluctantly slaps a ten into Xander's outstretched hand and Willow finally opens her eyes, glad the roughhousing was over. "But you didn't fight fair."

"Hey, you're like ten times stronger than me," Faith protests. "I had to even the playing field _somehow."_

"Fine, whatever. Just get off of me," Buffy requests, but Faith doesn't move. Buffy raises an eyebrow at her expectantly, but Faith isn't done with her winnings.

"Nope. Not until you tell me I'm the master of the remote."

Buffy rolls her eyes. "You're the master of the remote, Faith."

"And that you're my bitch," Faith adds, smirking. Buffy looks at her, offended.

"Faith, that's ridiculous. I'm not going to say that," she protests, a slight pink hue adorning her cheeks as Faith watches her brain think a little bit _too_ much about that statement. That was worth it in and of itself just because she knows Buffy's thinking kinky, perverted little thoughts, but she still wants her to say it.

"Hey, I willingly accepted my bitch status when you pinned me on the floor, but the tables have turned. Think I'd be the dom if we ever got down like that, Twinkie."

Willow coughs uncomfortably, but Kennedy and Xander are watching this interaction with far too much interest.

Buffy rolls her eyes, dismissing her. "You're perverted," she tells her as she pushes Faith off from on top of her.

"Ah, ah, ah," Faith taunts. When Buffy pushes her hands off of her (ridiculously easily, by the way) she places her hands on her torso threateningly. "Say it or I start tickling again." Buffy freezes, rethinking her options. She could easily get Faith off of her, but she clearly didn't want to be the victim of another tickle attack. Faith smirks and Buffy narrows her eyes.

"I'm not going to—" But as Faith's finger start tickling her sides she shouts rather quickly, "Okay, okay! Just stop! Oh my god." Faith smirks, incredibly entertained by this situation. She liked having Buffy at her mercy like this; it was sexy. She teasingly bites her lower lip and raises her eyebrows expectantly.

Buffy flushes and mumbles, "I'm not saying it in front of _everyone."_

"Ah come on, that's half the fun," Faith replies, amused. But Buffy shakes her head defiantly, already embarrassed that she was going to have to say something like that.

"Nope, not while they're here."

Faith rolls her eyes, but turns to the three people behind her. "You heard the lady; go pile in the bathroom for a second."

"Whaaat?" Kennedy asks, clearly disappointed by this outcome. Willow readily goes into the bathroom, not wanting to bear witness to this any longer. She looked embarrassed herself. Xander and Kennedy hang back for a moment though.

"Guys," Faith says, motioning her head towards the bathroom door.

"But it isn't any fun for us if we're in there," Xander complains lightly. He grins when Buffy shoots him a death look.

Faith chuckles. "I know, sorry. But ya heard the girl, and I want my reward."

Xander and Kennedy give equal looks of grumpiness to her, but reluctantly trudge off into the bathroom, disappointed. Faith turns to Buffy with a look of pure smugness and victory as she moves her hands away from Buffy's torso, instead sliding them up her arms to pin her wrists to the bed again while she hovers over her.

Sometimes she has no concept of personal space, but from the way Buffy's breathing becomes noticeably shallower when her breasts slid against hers, makes Faith find she doesn't care much. A small smirk tugs on her lips as she prods, "Say it." Her voice is an octave or two lower than normal and Buffy swallows.

"You're intolerable, you know," she tells her in a soft voice. Her tone isn't angry or even annoyed, it only seems distracted. Faith isn't sure if her low voice is so the others can't hear them in the bathroom, or that Buffy can't find it in her to speak at a normal octave with how close they are to each other.

"But I have my fun," Faith responds softly with a smirk. She tosses her hair over her shoulder and looks down at her with a wicked gleam in her eye. Buffy looks halfway between turned on and wary from their position and while Faith knows she should stop, she's having far too much fun. Besides, it's been ages since she got any kind of action, so flirting would have to suffice.

Faith leans down, pressing her lips to Buffy's ear. "Say it," she whispers huskily, feeling a shiver run through Buffy's body. She can hear that her breathing has picked up substantially. Faith congratulates herself mentally for practically rendering Buffy incompetent.

"What?" she asks, distracted, like she couldn't remember for the life of her what brought them to this position. Faith smirks.

"Tell me you're my bitch," she reminds her, purposely making every word a breathy whisper to make Buffy shiver again. Her lips are against her and she has to control her natural urge to take her skin in her mouth and mark her neck.

It's quiet for a moment and with every breath Buffy takes, Faith can feel it like she was breathing into her.

"I'm your bitch," Buffy breathes finally, her voice a throaty whisper. Faith smiles against her skin before she leans up a little, face dangerously close to Buffy's as she raises a flirty eyebrow.

"Yeah?" she prods softly.

Buffy's eyes flicker to Faith's lips that are only a breath away from hers and she confirms, "Yeah…" They lock eyes for a moment that seems to last forever before Faith finds she can't take it anymore.

Her lips connect with Buffy's.

Faith may have been the one who initiated it, but Buffy reciprocated eagerly. She lifted her head up a little, her mouth connecting more fully with Faith's as she slips her tongue against hers. Faith lets go of Buffy's wrist to slide her hand up her torso, dragging her palm over the smooth surface of the blonde's stomach. Buffy lets out the tiniest of whimpers as she tangles her hands in Faith's hair, sitting up a little more so she could get closer to her.

"This is a bad idea," Buffy breathes when they break momentarily for a breath of air, however her hands are caressing Faith's neck and down to her shoulders as Faith's hand wanders up her shirt, over her back.

"Probably," she responds throatily before she presses her lips to Buffy's again, kissing her a little more passionately as Buffy grasps at her clothing, like she wasn't sure if she wanted to pull it off or keep it on to save their sanities.

They practically fly apart however when there's an impatient knock on the bathroom door. They forgot they had company. "Uh, guys? You finished yet?" Xander asks carefully from the other side of it.

Buffy's eyes go wide as she stares at Faith like she isn't sure if she should run or not. They're silent and frozen for a moment; deer in headlights.

"Guys?" Xander asks again.

"They're probably fucking," they hear Kennedy mention casually. Buffy turns a bright red as she fixes her hair hastily.

"Never happened?" she asks Faith in a desperate whisper. While kissing Buffy again was fucking fantastic, at the moment Faith was inclined to agree. They were supposed to be friends, not getting into this whole mess again. That could complicate things far more than she was willing to deal with it.

She has to remember that she stopped Buffy from trying to pursue this relationship for a reason: she doesn't _do _relationships. But sometimes Faith looks at her and all she wants to do is tear her clothes off.

It's so frustrating.

"Never happened," Faith agrees as she gets off the bed, walking towards the door. She takes a breath, composing herself so she could act like nothing happened before she bangs on the door in response to Xander's knocking. "You can come out. We just wanted to see how long you'd stay in there before ya said anything." She smirks as the door opens and Xander narrows her eyes at her.

"Not funny."

"_So _funny," Faith corrects, amused. She nudges Kennedy's shoulder a little as she walks out of the bathroom, smirking at her as she says, "And if we were fuckin', you'd be able to tell. I have yet to make a bitch not scream my name."

Kennedy smirks at Faith and raises a flirty eyebrow. "Promise?" she asks in a low whisper. Unfortunately, with Buffy's Slayer hearing, she heard it and threw the dirtiest look at Kennedy.

"Back off of her, Kennedy," Buffy warns, not looking amused. Faith raises her eyebrows, not expecting such a blunt statement.

Kennedy didn't even seem remotely fazed as she turned to her. "Why would you care? She's not yours." It wasn't challenging, just curious.

"Because the last thing any of us need to do is _sleep _with each other when should be focusing on the Master; _that's _why!" Buffy exclaims, with way more aggravation than the situation called for. "Big bad; world in peril, anyone remember? Or did that just happen to slip your minds?"

"Relax, Twinkie. Flirtin' never hurt anyone," Faith tells her, grabbing the remote off the floor now that it was officially hers. "We're all over the Master sitch." She pauses though; assessing how much truth that statement actually had then revised, "Sorta."

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure, you both will be _all_ over it after I _die_ and one of you guys_ maybe_ takes my place," Buffy snaps, looking furious. "Thanks."

"Whoa, B. Chill with the hostility," Faith says, raising her hands in surrender. "We ain't gonna let you die. Promise, Princess."

"Yeah, Buffy. W-We'll think of something," Willow chimes in, giving her a small, hopeful smile.

Buffy stares at Faith for a moment in silence, obviously still upset. Faith doesn't really see _why,_ seeing as she explained that the flirtation between her and Kennedy was just that; flirtation (even though she doesn't want it to _be _just that, but Buffy doesn't need to know that little piece of information either).

But then again, maybe Faith's just being a complete idiot and hasn't cared enough to notice that Buffy really_ is_ worried about the Master. She always kind of brushed it off like it's her job and everything will be just fine; kicking ass and taking names, y'know, the usual Slayer routine. But the Master is big; seriously big. Buffy has to be crazy not to be at least a little scared, and Faith has to be as world-class dick not to notice until just now.

"I have to go," Buffy says finally, running her fingers through her hair. She looks overwhelmed and she picks up her coat from the chair, sliding it on.

"B…" Faith starts, but Buffy waves her hands at her.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry I yelled, I'm just… stressed out. But I need to go on patrol; vampires don't stake themselves," Buffy answers without looking at anyone. Her hand grasps the door handle but before Faith can stop her, it's Xander who comes over and puts a hand on her shoulder. Buffy turns to look at him.

"We're all here for you, Buff," he tells her seriously. They all need her to understand that. Faith realizes that most of the weight comes down on Buffy's shoulders, but she isn't alone; she's got four people standing here, willing to fight for her.

"I know," Buffy says softly. Her eyes reach everyone's in the room before she gives them a small smile. "Thanks. I just… I _do _need to patrol. Trust me, if vampires really _could_ stake themselves, I wouldn't be leaving."

They all nod at Buffy, understanding. All except Faith, who's silent. Buffy looks at her and suddenly Faith asks, a little unsure of herself. "Do you… want company? Y'know what they say; two bitches with a stake are better than one."

Buffy looks amused. "_Who_ says that, exactly?" Faith shrugs.

"I dunno; the Council? Whatever. Still offerin'."

Buffy looks at her for a while, as if assessing the situation. Finally she cocks her head and raises an eyebrow asking, "Do you promise not to die?"

Faith smirks, "Cross my heart and—" she reassesses that saying and rephrases it, "_don't_ hope to die." Buffy rolls her eyes playfully, but looks amused.

"Can I come?" Kennedy asks, excited.

"You're not ready," Buffy tells her seriously. Off of Kennedy's offended look she explains, "Faith at least has been out in the field before; you haven't. Sorry, it's not personal. But I already have to keep an extra eye on Faith; I can't afford the liability of you too."

Kennedy has this full on brat attitude come over her as she crosses her arms in front of her chest, looking peeved. "Whatever." Cue eye roll.

Ah, so _there's_ that spoiled rich girl attitude. Faith was wondering when that'd pop up.

"Ask Wesley to take you out sometime," Buffy tries.

"That twat would scream like a pansy the second a vampire came near us," Kennedy replies flatly. Buffy and Faith share a look; they can believe it. Wesley is such a punk ass little bitch.

"Sorry," Buffy apologizes. Faith shoots her an apologetic look as well, but is too excited to be able to go out slaying to really bother with comforting Kennedy's bruised ego. That's probably her friend Tara's job anyway.

"Please don't get eaten," Willow says, looking at Faith like this has 'bad idea' written all over it. Faith just smirks, her cockiness radiating off of her like a nuclear weapon.

"Please, the vamps will be beggin' _me_ not to eat _them."_

Buffy raises an eyebrow looking at her oddly. "Um, ew?"

Faith shrugs. "Okay, that probably needed rephrasing, but whatever. Point is: I'm ready to kick some ass." She smiles at Buffy who smiles back at her, although a little warily. She's not sure how this will turn out either, but Faith figures Buffy just really needs the company right now and that's why she's letting her tag along.

"Well," Faith says, opening the door for Buffy and holding her hand out to her. "Shall we?" she grins at her mock chivalry. Buffy gives her an amused look but takes her hand, allowing Faith to lead her out the door. "Hey," Faith says, turning to her friends left in her motel room. "Crash if ya want, or ya can head out; either way. I'll be back later." She grins at Willow, who's still shaking her head like this is the worst idea ever.

But she has Buffy with her; the Slayer. How could things go wrong?

TBC…


	28. Running Away

**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT  
****Running Away**

"Why can't I have the ax?"

"Because knowing your aim, I'd fear for my safety," Buffy tells her flatly as she rifles through her bag. When she picks out a stake, she tosses it to Faith who catches it easily. Faith gives her a disgruntled look as she leans against the abandoned building that Buffy just crawled out of.

"_Don't_ lose that stake," Buffy tells her seriously as she watches Faith play with it in her hands. "It's my favorite."

Faith raises an eyebrow. "Ya have a favorite _stake?_ What; you name it too?" As she cracks a smirk and twirls it in her fingers, she guesses, "Stabby McDuster or some shit?"

Buffy looks halfway between being a little embarrassed and annoyed. "Mr. Pointy, actually," she corrects. Faith busts out laughing.

"Penis envy if I ever heard it."

"What? No! _Ew,"_ Buffy protests, looking disgruntled at being made fun of. She scrunches up her face as she zips up her duffle bag. With one last look at Faith she tells her, "You're gross," before she climbs back in the abandoned building through the window, putting the bag back where she found it. Faith leans over, looking at her through the small space.

"Why the fuck ya keep that shit there?" she asks.

"Because," Buffy begins before she starts climbing back out of the window. Faith holds out her hand to help her up and Buffy takes it. "My Mom likes to randomly search my bedroom for 'dirty laundry'," she air quotes, looking like she believed her Mom was snooping more than doing chores, "and I don't exactly have many hiding spots for _weapons_." She shrugs, looking back at the building as she stands to full height. "Besides, there's a million hiding spots in there and it's right between two cemeteries. It's convenient."

"What if the bums find it?" Faith points out. "Pawn some sweet shit like that and they could get drunk for… well, a fuckin' while."

"Faith, this is Sunnydale," Buffy tells her flatly, "Poster town for all things undead and hungry; homeless people don't last two days on the street."

True.

Buffy swings the ax over her shoulder and looks at Faith pointedly. "Shall we?" she offers, mocking Faith's chivalry from earlier.

"B, if you're gonna do it, ya gotta do it right. There's a hand gesture involved," Faith tells her, smirking at her in amusement.

"Right, sorry," Buffy says, then revises with an overdramatic gesture of her holding her hand out; leading the way for Faith, "Shall we?" She grins when Faith chuckles.

"You're such a gentleman, B," Faith jokes as she walks past Buffy's outstretched hand, heading towards the cemetery. Buffy's behind her, but Faith swears she can hear Buffy rolling her eyes at her.

"Gentle_woman_," Buffy corrects, catching up so she's walking side-by-side with Faith.

"So you sayin' that when ya finally _do_ get into a girly-lovin' relationship, you'd be the guy?" Faith teases.

Buffy's jaw drops. "What? No! What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well the guy's usually the chivalrous one, B. You're the one wantin' to be called a gentlewoman." Buffy scrunches up her face in annoyance and punches Faith in the arm. Probably not hard by her standards, but hard enough to make Faith nearly push her into the cemetery gates in retaliation. "Ow! Fuck, B. Ya gotta quit with that shit. Superwoman ain't meant to be bashing on civilians, if she was the comic book world would be turned upside down." She rubs her arm.

"Please, you're hardly a civilian, and I'm hardly Superwoman," Buffy scoffs as they enter cemetery grounds. "And I wouldn't be the guy, just for the record. I'm a _cheerleader."_

"You _used_ to be a cheerleader," Faith points out, much to Buffy's annoyance. She either quit the squad or got kicked off once she became a Slayer, Faith didn't know the details. She just knew she wasn't hopping around with pompoms anymore. "Besides, ain't you ever seen that movie 'But I'm a Cheerleader'?"

"Um, no," Buffy states flatly, clearly not even knowing what it is.

"You're missin' out," Faith tells her as they weave through the gravestones. "There's this one bitch that masturbates while she gives herself like, aversion therapy or some shit with an electric shocker. Kinky."

"I'll take your word for it," Buffy replies, sounding completely unenthused by the prospect. She's obviously way too fucking vanilla, which Faith can't even begin to comprehend. But then suddenly Buffy turns to her and asks, "And what about you, huh?"

"What about me?" Faith asks, confused. Was she asking about her masturbation habits? Cause if so, Faith's totally down with this change in conversation.

"You're obviously the guy, right?" Buffy asks, like she's not all that sure about her theory.

Damn, not what she was thinking then.

Faith laughs though, "To be the guy in a relationship, I'd actually have to _be_ in a relationship. Ain't ever been on a date or taken a bitch on one, so no. Not really."

Buffy narrows her eyes at her. "Can you stop with that, please?"

"With what?"

"With calling women 'bitches'. You're worse than a misogynistic male," Buffy tells her, not looking amused in the slightest.

Faith folds her arms across her chest, defensive. "Probably just the _hood_ in me," she mocks, knowing that's what Buffy thought of her.

"Faith, you're not 'hood.' When you start wearing a gold tooth and more bangle bracelets than can even fit up your arm, saying stuff like 'Who dat …_insert inappropriate N word here'_ and talking about your 'baby daddy', then you can call yourself hood," Buffy tells her, in an overdramatic display of her mimicking what she believes 'hood' to be, most notably with her body language. Faith nearly falls over laughing.

To see the whitest girl ever try to imitate ghetto behavior was probably the funniest shit she's seen in her whole life. She probably gets all her info on it from Jerry Springer.

"Shut up!" Buffy exclaims when she realizes Faith can barely even breathe from laughing so hard at her. She's bent over a tombstone, unable to even speak. "Faith!"

Faith just keeps laughing, but pulls herself together enough to request, "Throw some gang signs at me, B. Come on. Funniest fuckin' shit…" and then she dissolves into more laughter.

Buffy doesn't look amused. "I have a gang sign for you," she tells her, before she flips her off. Faith continues to laugh at her.

She stops though once they hear footsteps coming towards them. They both straighten up, instantly alert. Faith takes the stake out of her jacket and grips it tightly, eyes searching the darkness. Two figures step out from behind a mausoleum, smiling as they take notice of two lonely girls wandering around in a cemetery.

"Aw, look honey; they're adorable," the girl vampire coos, hanging on the male vampire's arm as they stalk towards Buffy and Faith. "The blonde one looks like a Barbie. I wanna play with her…"

Faith tries not to snort as Buffy exclaims, offended, "Hey! I'm _way_ cuter than Barbie, right Faith?"

"I dunno, B. Kinda hard to compare. I mean, Barbie wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit of yours, that's for sure," Faith quips, which makes Buffy look down at her jeans and hooded sweatshirt with annoyance.

"You're supposed to tell me I'm prettier than her," Buffy tells her, seemingly more worried that Faith didn't validate her hotness than she is about the two vampires coming towards them.

"Wouldn't want to inflate your ego," Faith says with a grin. Her heart is pounding in her chest from being around two things that could kill her, but she felt way more comfortable because Buffy was with her.

"Mel…" the male vampire starts, noticing something is off as the two girls are flooded with moonlight as they start to walk towards them. He stops, grabbing into what could only be assumed as his lover's arm as he realizes they're armed. "Slayer!" It's said with fear.

"Which one?" the female, Mel, asks, seemingly not phased by their mortal enemy being in front of her. "The Barbie or the slut?" She turns her head, as if assessing them.

HEY. How the fuck would this bitch know about her sex life? Not like it's written on her forehead. Faith really hates when people just _assume._ It may be true, but give her the benefit of the fucking doubt first, damn.

"Who cares, let's just _go!"_ The male urges, pulling on her arm, encouraging her to retreat.

"I hate it when they run," Buffy says, sighing a little as she watches them book it in the opposite direction. "It takes the fun out of it." But then she's off, hot on their heels, with Faith following closely behind her.

It's almost amusing to watch Buffy tackle the female to the ground like a friggin' linebacker, if not for the rage it induces in her boyfriend, who comes at them both, fangs bared and snarling like some kind of deranged, rabid tiger on speed. Faith tries to intercept him so Buffy doesn't have two on her, but after her first hit connects with his face he kicks her in the stomach, sending her sprawling.

Fuck, she hates that everyone but her seems to be obnoxiously strong.

As Faith picks herself up off the ground, ignoring the pain in her ribs, she snarls and launches at him. "Fucker, this was my favorite shirt!" she yells as she hits him. It's now got his ugly boot print all over it; it's gonna be a bitch to wash in her sink. He grabs her arm after she tries to punch him again, however, and his grip nearly breaks her wrist. So she head butts him instead, hoping to fuck she doesn't end up with an ugly bruise tomorrow. "Shit, you got a hard head," she swears as the vampire stumbles back, momentarily stunned.

Meanwhile, Buffy was finishing up on her vampire. With one fatal swing of her ax, the girl's head severs from her body and she disappears in a pile of dust. "Mel!" the male screams, angry and distraught. But his anger blinds him as he dismisses Faith completely to try to kill Buffy, and Faith easily sticks her foot out to trip him. He falls to the ground in a heap. Faith wastes no time getting on top of him, using her whole body weight to pin him.

"Aw, are you gonna miss her dead flavored pussy?" she taunts. The vampire snarls and tries to get her off of him, but he's pinned on his stomach and it doesn't give him much leverage to throw her off.

"Faith, don't play around," Buffy chides, looking at her disapprovingly. "Just stake him."

"You take all the fun outta life, B," Faith tells her with a sigh before she rams the stake into his back. He disappears into a pile of dust and she lands on the ground.

"I'm not taking the fun out of life, Faith. But the minute you choose to taunt him could end up being the minute another vampire chooses to try to kill you." Buffy holds her hand out to Faith and she takes it, allowing her to help her to her feet.

"Whatever, there was only two of them and you dusted the other," Faith retorts.

"That doesn't mean that there couldn't have been another one waiting in the shadows for a perfect opportunity, which is what you would have been giving said hypothetical vampire."

Faith rolls her eyes as she leans against a tombstone, rubbing her sore limbs. Buffy takes notice of it and asks, "Are you hurt?"

"Nah, just bruised. I'll deal," Faith responds. She touches her forehead and winces at the tenderness. "Did that fucker bruise my face?" she asks.

Buffy walks over to her, needing to get closer to inspect the area in the dim moonlight. She squints and reaches up, touching the area, which makes Faith smack her hands away when pain shoots through her head. "Jesus, you didn't have to _poke_ it."

"I didn't poke it, and you'll be fine. It doesn't look like it's bruising. It may later though, I don't know."

"Some help you are," Faith tells her flatly.

"Well I don't know; I don't bruise easily anymore," Buffy replies, giving her a pointed look. Yeah, yeah, whatever. She's Ms. Bad Ass Slayer. Faith gets it.

"Please, I bet I could make you bruise," Faith retorts and gives her a dirty little smirk that Buffy would have looked annoyed by, if not for the slight blush that now adorned her cheeks. "Bet you'd like it too."

"Just… shut up," Buffy replies turning to walk away from her, embarrassed. She starts swinging the ax around to distract herself, and Faith has to dodge out of the way as she catches up to her.

Staying to Buffy's side that _isn't_ swinging the ax, she grins as she pushes, "Oh come on, B. Don't deny it."

Faith knows she probably shouldn't be pushing the issue, but what could she say? She fucking _loved_ making Buffy blush. Even if they were gonna be 'just friends', that doesn't mean she can't tease her. Otherwise, what point would there be to their friendship?

"No, I wouldn't _like_ it," Buffy shoots at her, glaring. Faith just smirks.

"So why'd you blush?"

"I didn't—arg! Faith! Just shut up, will you? We're trying to slay," Buffy retorts, flustered. She won't even look at her and puts extra effort into looking for vampires, who don't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"Pretty sure the vamps will come to us, B. We're two hot chicks roaming a cemetery; we got 'meal' written all over us. So, not like ya gotta put too much effort into it," Faith tells her with a sly grin as she watches Buffy grow more frustrated by the second with the conversation.

"Do you enjoy this?" she asks angrily. "_Torturing _me?" Buffy finally stops walking and turns to look at her, one hand on her hip.

Faith shrugs casually, "So what if I do?" She gives her a shit eating grin, but it isn't well received.

"So you're an asshole," Buffy tells her, not hint of a jest in her voice. "Do you think this is _easy_ for me? Do you? To fall for the one girl who is a _commitment_-phobe? It's not _funny_, Faith. All you're doing is confusing me and it's not fair."

"Hey, you're the one who told me you didn't want to go to Homecoming with me, _after_ you already asked me to go. Ya wanna talk about confusing, Princess? Let's start there," Faith snaps, getting defensive.

For fuck's sake, she's not the only one throwing mixed signals around here.

"Well it wasn't going to be a date! So why would I want to go with you otherwise?" Buffy exclaims. She points at her accusingly, "You like me, I know you do. I'm not stupid, Faith. I see the way you look at me; I'd have to be blind not to notice."

"What you're seein' is lust, Twinkie. Not _'feelings',"_ Faith mocks, air quoting the word like it's completely laughable. Buffy's eyes flash. "Yeah, I wanna fuck you. I'd take you right here in the cemetery if I could, but I'm trying to be the good little girl that doesn't fuck around with you cause you're my friend. I ain't lookin' to hurt you, B, so quit actin' like I'm the bad guy. Just cause I like to make lewd comments at you, don't mean I'm tryin' to screw with your head; it's just how I am."

"It's just 'how you are?'" Buffy mocks heavily, getting angrier. "That's such _crap!_ If that were true, you'd be making them to Willow, to Xander, and God forbid to _Giles…"_

"Well I don't wanna fuck any of them!" Faith defends, but Buffy's on a roll.

"And you want to talk about not _screwing _with me? What the hell do you call making out with me in your bed earlier? You seemed not to give a crap about screwing with me then!"

"You wanted me to kiss you!" Faith argues, getting angry. Why the fuck was Buffy acting like she was the worst person on the freaking planet just for giving her what she wants?

"I didn't say that!"

"You didn't have to! I think looking at me like you wanted to rip off my clothes was enough of a fuckin' indicator!"

"Fuck you, Faith!" Buffy yells, getting emotional. Her voice hitches, but she refuses to cry; at least, not in front of Faith. "You have no idea how hard this is for me! I run the risk of getting killed _every single night_, so excuse me for maybe wanting a little bit of happiness in my life before I go!"

"I'm not your happiness, Princess," Faith tells her with harsh honesty.

"Don't you think I know that?" Buffy shrieks. "You are the most lewd, crude, infuriatingly stubborn, impulsive _slut_ I have ever known!" Faith opens her mouth, offended, but can't get a word out because Buffy goes on, "And yet every time I close my eyes at night, I see your stupid face, with your _stupid _little arrogant smirk. I can't get you out of my head and I _hate _it! I didn't ask for this, Faith! I can't stand you half the time, but apparently that doesn't matter because even when I want to beat your face in, I still want to kiss you so hard that your head spins and you forget where you are, because that's how you make _me_ feel!"

Faith freezes and she stares at Buffy, wide-eyed. That was kind of heavy. Sexy in a way, but still really fucking heavy. The instinct to run flows through her entire being, but she can't move from the spot she's rooted too. Faith didn't know what to say, what to _do._ She knew Buffy liked her, that much was obvious; she used to practically follow her around like a puppy, after all. But something about the way Buffy said that made her scared for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Say something," Buffy begs softly, looking incredibly vulnerable and completely terrified at the same time.

Faith stares at her for a moment, having no idea what someone's even supposed to say to something like that. What was worse was that Faith closes her eyes at night and sees Buffy before she drifts off to sleep. But in her mind Buffy is usually doing a strip tease, so she never really thought much of it before. And the way Buffy described how she feels when they kiss… it's how she feels too, but she accounted it to hormones and an impatient libido. So why does what Buffy is saying sound completely different to how Faith feels? It's just sex, isn't it? Faith _just _wants to have sex with her, right?

Fuck, this would be when knowing what the hell she's actually feeling would come in handy. She usually just attributes most emotions to sex; it's simpler. And for good reason too. She couldn't actually _like_ Buffy, could she? Cause that's fucking ridiculous. Faith doesn't _do_ crushes.

"Vampire," is all Faith can manage as a response as she sees one start to dig its way out of a grave in the distance. Buffy looks confused until she points, making Buffy look behind her.

"Great," she mutters, sounding horribly upset before she takes off, running towards it. The vampire looks up, confused as to what the hell is going on, but doesn't even get a second to ask a question before Buffy swings her ax, beheading it without a second thought or a witty quip. She turns to look at Faith in the distance, but doesn't move. Faith thinks she waiting for her to come to _her_, but that'd just cause Buffy more mixed signals and she was pretty clear on not wanting those anymore.

How can she respond to all of that if she doesn't even know how she feels? It's too complicated, so Faith relies on her fallback plan: running away.

"I have to go," Faith tells her before she turns, walking away without even giving Buffy a chance to respond.

"Faith!" she hears Buffy call out to her. When Faith hears her start to run, she does too. She doesn't want to deal with this right now; she can't.

Faith runs all the way back to her motel, even though she's pretty sure Buffy stopped following her after she exited the graveyard. She leans against her door, closing her eyes. Her fucking head hurt. She didn't want to have to deal with this right now. She was just fooling around; egging her on. All she wanted was to make her blush; it was fun. Why the fuck did she have to take it so personally and then turn everything around to make it all… _serious?_

Faith doesn't even understand why Buffy likes her so much. If it was just about sex, she'd get it; she's a hot fucking bitch, obviously. But other than that? She ain't got nothing to offer her, not really. She's a broke kid from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in a fucking _motel room,_ helping her coked out mom get her fix just so she can get up and go to work in the morning. It ain't like she's anything special. She's about as opposite of special that someone could get.

Fuck this. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about anything. Thinking only caused headaches and more confusion. Faith just wanted to drink until she passed out; it sounded like an excellent plan under the circumstances.

When she opened her door, her lights were out. Everyone had gone home. Faith didn't even bother turning them on as she stripped off all her clothes, tossing them to the ground carelessly. As she sat on her bed, she grabbed the liquor bottle on her bedside table, popping it open and taking a swig.

Fuck today.

Faith replaced the bottle on the table before she lifted the covers, trying to get in bed. However, when she did that, she heard a groan and felt a body roll over. "What the fuck?" Faith exclaims, practically jumping out of bed and switching on the light. Kennedy rolls over, shielding her eyes from the light.

"Christ, turn it off, will you?"

"What the fuck are you doing in my bed?" Faith asks, staring at her like her presence there was completely alien. Kennedy opened her eyes, smirking as the site of a nude Faith greets her vision.

"You said we could stay," she clarifies, eyes trailing over every inch of Faith's body. "I did. Guess I fell asleep waiting for you." She cocks an eyebrow as Faith continues to stare at her. "So are you going to get back in bed and fuck me, or should I go? Cause I don't mind if you want me to leave, but it seems like such a wasted opportunity since you're already naked."

Well, when she put it that way. Faith already had a shit day dealing with_ feelings_ and the instant cure for that would be some great, mindless sex. At least, it'd be a better cure than drinking herself into a coma. Certainly more enjoyable.

"Get naked," is all Faith says before she switches the light back out. She doesn't even have to think twice about it; when an opportunity is in front of her, of course she's gonna take it.

They fell into each other shortly afterwards, Faith using sex to take out all her aggression about the mind trip Buffy's giving her. Kennedy was more than willing to follow her lead; allowing her to be as rough and as dominant as she wanted. In fact, she more than once vocally encouraged it. Kennedy scratched her back so hard as Faith fucked her mercilessly, that she was sure her back would be tore up in the morning. But it didn't matter. None of it really mattered.

Kennedy had three fingers buried inside of Faith's pussy when she finally came, slamming her hand against the headboard as she basked in one, short moment where she didn't have to _think. _But then when she came down from her high she remembered Buffy, and she demanded that Kennedy to make her cum again. She didn't want to think about her, she didn't want to think about anything.

Kennedy obliged, like the good little bitch she was.

Maybe it was wrong, how she used all these women. Maybe she shouldn't be a massive slut with no regard to how she made other people feel. Maybe she _should_ try to have something that means something, for once in her life.

But this was easier, simpler. And the last thing Faith wanted was something complicating her life up even more than it already was. Her life was a fucking disaster, there was no point pulling someone else in so they could drown with her.

Faith was just better off alone. Period.

TBC…


	29. A Backwards World

**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE  
****A Backwards World**

Kennedy left shortly after they were finished, thankfully.

Faith was already frustrated, so the last thing she wanted to do was yell at her to get out. She knew she'd end up being a huge cunt about it, and she really didn't want to have to deal with the backlash of it at school tomorrow. You'd think that with three orgasms, Faith's frustrations would just melt away. But no, because life likes to fuck her sideways, that wasn't what happened at all.

She just couldn't stop thinking about her. Buffy, obviously, not Kennedy. And it was really fucking stupid, because after sex Faith should feel worn out, but thoroughly satisfied. That's not too much to ask, right? But she lay in bed for hours, staring at the celling and wondering why the hell she can't just get her out of her mind. It ain't like Buffy was anything incredibly special, right? For fuck's sake. She's just a friend. She could be a good lay, but that was out of the question.

Eventually, Faith did end up falling asleep. But the next morning she woke up and Buffy was still on her mind, so in a wave of annoyance and frustration, she went to go talk to her mother. It was probably her fault anyway; she kept pushing Buffy on her like she was trying to set up a freaking arranged marriage.

When she opens the door to her mother's room, she doesn't do it delicately. The sound is loud and abrasive and it wakes her mother up, who sits up in bed sleepy and confused. "Whatsgoingon?" she mumbles, squinting as she tries to make out who just entered into her room in a less than polite manner. The covers fall from around her torso and Faith can see her mother's topless, which wouldn't be a problem except that _she wasn't in bed alone._

"Who the fuck is this clown?" Faith asks defensively as the random man sits up, mumbling something like 'what the hell was that?'

"Fai?" Her mother asks, like she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not.

"No, it's the tooth fairy. Who the fuck do you think? And who the hell is _he?"_ Faith always hated when her mother brought home men; they never were of the highest quality, and this one was no different. He was a rugged and tattooed gangster-looking Italian, and basically screamed 'no good' from a mile away.

Fucking fantastic.

"What do you…?" Caroline asks, confused for a moment as she wakes up. Then she realizes what must be going on because she asks, "Are you okay?"

"I need to talk to you," Faith says flatly.

"This ya daughter?" the stranger asks, looking at Faith in a way that made her skin crawl.

"Yeah, now get the fuck outta my mum's bed. Ya had your fun, now get to steppin', Fabio." She grabs his clothes off the floor and throws it to him almost violently. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now.

"His name is Alberto," Caroline corrects as she grabs her shirt that's hanging over the side table lamp before slipping it over her head.

Whatever, still Italian, so Faith was pretty sure her guess was a good one.

"You really let ya daughter just kick out ya dates like this?" the guy asks, like Faith was the one being rude. Fuck that. His _presence_ was rude. "If she were my kid, I wouldn't let her get away with that. Girl's rude, Caroline. She ain't got no respect for her elders; needs to be taught some obedience."

Faith snorted. Right. Good thing she ain't his kid then, huh? Whatever, guys like him were a dime a dozen. He doesn't scare her.

"I'm sorry, call me later?" Caroline suggests hopefully, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. Fabio, or whatever his name was, didn't look like he was going to do it as he grabs his clothes, pulling them back on.

"Yeah, sure," he replies dismissively.

He won't call.

Her mother looks like she knows that too as she sighs a little, but it's not like it's unexpected. Caroline's dates never stuck around for more than the first night anymore. As Fabio leaves, she pats the bed next to her, encouraging Faith to come over and sit down. She does.

"Why the fuck ya gotta get douchebags like that, Mum? Ain't like you're ugly or nothin'."

"He was… sweet," Caroline falters a little, like she isn't even sure if that's the word. Faith's sure it isn't. But she changes the subject to, "What did you want to talk about, dear?" as she reaches over to her bedside table, opening the drawer and getting her blow.

"Whoa, where the fuck did ya get that?" Faith asks, looking at the bag. She didn't buy it. "Ya know you're not supposed to keep that shit in here."

"I know, I'm sorry. Alberto gave it to me and I didn't want to wake you," Caroline tells her as she sticks her finger in there, gathering some up on her long nail. Faith curls up her lip in disgust as her mother waves at her to turn around. She obliges reluctantly, and as she hears her mother snorting up the drug she tells her,

"Well ya gotta give to me after."

"I know," Caroline replies, then seals the baggie and hands it to her. Faith puts it in her bra.

Her mother looks at her expectantly and it kind of bothers her so she bursts out with suddenly, "Why the fuck are you always on about B?"

"What?" Caroline asks, confused.

"Buffy," Faith clarifies. "You've met her once, so why the hell are you advocating for me to like, I dunno, fuckin' settle down and get married to the bitch or something?"

Caroline gives her a patient look. "I never said you should marry her, Faith. I just think she's a nice girl."

"But like I said, ya met her once."

Her mother sighs a little, leaning against the headboard of her bed. "Faith, I've known you your whole life. I've watched you sleep for nearly two decades now and not once have you ever talked about a girl in your sleep. And it isn't just sometimes, it nearly every night I go in there. It may even be more than that. You must really like her, so I just think that maybe you should give dating her a shot. You never know, you may enjoy it."

"What, bein' tied down to one bitch? No thanks. And by the way, that whole 'watching me sleep' thing is kinda creepy. I'm practically an adult, Mum."

"I know sweetie, but I like doing it," Caroline tells her with a smile. "You look like my little girl again; innocent."

Faith scoffs. Right, innocent. Whatever.

Caroline takes one of her hands in hers, holding it. "I think you should give her a chance. Trust me when I tell you I know how unsatisfying sleeping with random people all the time can get. You need something more than that; I_ want_ something more than that for you."

"Ya ain't doing it with the right people if it's unsatisfying, Mum," Faith tells her flatly as she untangles her hand from hers, standing up. She didn't want to _give Buffy a chance._ Buffy was cool and all, hot as shit if she were to be honest, but that didn't mean they'd work in an actual relationship. That shit fuckin'… scares her. She hates using that word but it's true. There isn't a lot that scares Faith, but relationships are one of them. She wouldn't even know how to go about being in one and besides, to be in relationship you should probably have to love the person right?

Faith doesn't love. She just _doesn't._ She fucks and that's… that's just it. Okay?

"I gotta… get ready for school," Faith tells her mother as she runs her fingers through her hair. She just didn't want to talk about this anymore. She figured coming in here and confronting her mother would help, but all it did was confuse shit even more.

When she got to school, Faith did all she could do avoid Buffy. However, she was present in her English class, which was sadly unavoidable. Buffy was trying to get her attention all throughout the test they were supposed to be taking, which got her told off by the teacher and then she finally stopped. Once the bell rang, Faith practically flew from the room.

When faced with a choice between dealing and not dealing? She'll choose not to deal, thanks.

Faith tries to get her books for her next class out of her locker as quick as humanly possible, but it isn't quick enough. Buffy corners her, and for someone who had so much determination to talk to her, she doesn't look quite as sure about herself now that she's actually gotten Faith within her general vicinity. "Hey," she starts, sounding a little unsure about how Faith's going to react. "Can we… talk?"

"I gotta get to class," Faith tells her shortly, shoving her English book in her locker before pulling out her history one.

"It's lunch," Buffy reminds her. Her voice was low and dejected; she knew Faith was purposely avoiding her.

Shit.

"Hey Summers!" one jock hollers at Buffy as he comes over to her. Buffy looks a little annoyed to be interrupted, but Faith was glad for it. Now she could get the fuck out of there.

"Oh, hey Dan," Buffy says, smiling at him a little. Faith rolls her eyes and closes her locker; she wanted nothing to do with all this cool-kids crap. How Buffy still managed to have every guy like her even after her popularity status plummeted, is beyond her. Then again, maybe she didn't need to be a cheerleader and hang around other stuck up bitches to still be popular. What would Faith know? She certainly wasn't.

Not that she cared.

"Hey uh, I was wondering…" Dan starts, flashing her this ridiculous looking smile that's apparently meant to flatter her. "Would you like to go to Homecoming with me?"

Oh, please. Fuck this.

"See ya, B," Faith tells her dismissively as she closes her locker, starting to walk away from her. The last thing she needed was to hear about that stupid dance again, it's when all the trouble started.

"I…" Buffy starts, looking a little overwhelmed with Dan asking her out when she's trying to talk to Faith. "I can't, I'm gay," she tells him suddenly and distractedly before turning and exclaiming, "Faith, wait!"

Faith freezes. She heard what she just said to Dan, and apparently Buffy didn't realize it slipped out until it was too late. Her face turned almost as white as a sheet.

Dan laughed, "You're what? Come on, stop kidding around. My dad got me this _sweet _car for my birthday, you'd be riding in style if you—"

"Faith, come to Homecoming with me," Buffy says abruptly, like the words just flew out of her mouth with seemingly no permission from her brain. She completely ignored Dan, who was now looking at her like he really couldn't believe he was baring witness to a lesbian moment. He didn't look entirely pleased about it either, since he was shot down because of it.

So much for Buffy's popularity.

Faith slowly turns around to face her fully, not really knowing what the hell she's supposed to say to that. Some students stopped what they were doing to watch; having heard Buffy's proposal. Buffy's cheeks are flushed in embarrassment, but she doesn't back down. She isn't going to do this halfway if she's going to do it at all, apparently. Even so, Faith notices that Buffy's hand has started shaking.

"Please," she adds softly. "If not as like… a _date_ date, then just as friends. But I… I want to go with you."

Faith runs her fingers through her hair, feeling really awkward about being put on the spot like this. Everyone's fucking staring. And while she doesn't give a crap about what they think about her, she knows Buffy does. What she just did… that was fucking huge. Come tomorrow, everyone was going to be talking about how Buffy was gay. She doesn't know if Buffy can handle something like that, but there's no backing out now.

What's worse is that Faith can't reject her after she just basically shouted her sexuality for everyone to hear; she'd be the biggest asshole ever.

Fuck.

"Yeah," she replies, trying to shrug it off like it was no big deal. "Fine, whatever." She doesn't want to have the rumors circulating tomorrow that Buffy's gay _and _that she got rejected by the biggest lesbian slut in the school. That'd be a really shitty thing for Buffy to deal with and already she was gonna have to deal with a lot after something like this.

Buffy looks surprised that Faith actually said yes. "Okay well… good. That's… that's good," she stutters a little, forcing a smile even though it was obvious she felt uncomfortable. "See you at lunch then?" she asks, fiddling with her top self-consciously.

"Sure," Faith replies, feeling awkward herself. She watches Buffy purse her lips and nod before she turns, practically fleeing into the lunchroom to get away from all of the witnesses.

Fuck. This probably isn't going to end well. And shit, now she's going to have to buy a stupid dress; she doesn't have the money for that.

But there's no backing out of it now. Besides, a little part of her wanted this. After all, she wouldn't have said yes to Buffy's previous proposal about the dance if she didn't. It was just fucking confusing though, all of it. Were the two of them even _capable_ of just being friends? It didn't seem like it. But Faith wasn't capable of a relationship either, so where the fuck did that leave them?

Whatever. Too many deep thoughts.

Faith ignores everyone's stares as she heads into the lunchroom. She notices Buffy seated with Willow, Tara, and Kennedy, but doesn't go over there right away. She needed to get food to eat her feelings first. Thank god for her high metabolism. Besides, Buffy looked hella distressed as she held her head in her hand, elbow on the table, shaking her head as she talked to her friends. The realization of what she just did must have finally hit her.

Ain't no turning back to for her either. But coming out could be good for Buffy. Sure it's gonna suck at first, almost always does, but better to be honest about who you want to fuck then lie about it. Lying is liable to eventually drive you bat shit crazy.

As Faith walks over to the lunch line, she notices Xander standing amidst the crowded room, staring off into space again. Christ, what has this kid gotten himself into? If it's drugs, he's really gotta lay off. Shit's clearly fucking with his head a little too much.

"Xander!" Faith exclaims as she comes up behind him. Xander jumps about a mile as Faith startles him out of his staring contest with… whatever the hell he was staring at.

"What?" he shouts, like he just got caught masturbating by his parents. At least, that was the best comparison Faith could come up with for how guilty he looked right now. She crosses her arms over her chest.

"What's up?" she asks him pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Me? Nothing, I'm doing nothing!" Then he coughed, realizing that wasn't even her question. He looks a little awkward as he corrects himself, "I mean… nothing's up. Except maybe the sky and—"

"Xander," Faith interrupts flatly. She gives him a look that makes him look a little sheepish. "What the fuck drugs have you been smoking? Seriously. You've been wacked out for like a week."

"Nothing! No drugs. I am as drug free as a… okay I can't think of anything that rhymes with free that would make sense, but you know what I mean," Xander replies, rambling to try to distract Faith. It doesn't work.

"Then what's up? You're always staring off into space like a stoner, dude."

"Nothing! There's nothing. Nothing at all. My life is boring. Lame and… boring," he falters, looking unsure of himself. "I said that already." He sighs when he takes notice of the look on Faith's face. "You're not buying this are you?"

"Not even a little," Faith tells him, smirking. She nudes him with her shoulder a little, prodding, "Come on; just tell me what's goin' on. We're friends, man."

He sighs, turning to look out at the crowd of people in the lunchroom. He doesn't say anything so Faith follows his gaze, trying to figure out what's got him acting like this. It seemed to be only at school, so it's gotta be something or _someone_ here, right? Jeez, if Xander's got himself a crush then—

Faith's train of thought stops once she realizes what he's looking at; the popular kids table. Mainly, Cordelia, Harmony, and all those other anorexic bitches. "Oh, Jesus," she groans, which makes Xander turn to look at her quickly. "Don't tell me ya got a hard on for one those nasty sluts."

"Me? No! No, why would you…? That's crazy…! They're… no!" and then he starts doing the 'head laugh'; you know the one – overdramatic, loud, and head tilted too far back to even be natural. In short, the laugh to cover shit up. Faith just looks at him, disgusted.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Faith asks bluntly, putting her hands on her hips. "Ain't none of those bitches worth even half of your time. I mean, shit, Cordelia especially—"

"Shhh!" Xander hisses at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her away just as Cordelia stands up, heading right for them. Faith rolls her eyes but stays quiet, not wanting to embarrass Xander just in case Cordelia ended up overhearing them.

Faith thought she was just going to walk by, but Cordelia actually stops in front of them. Faith raises her eyebrow at her expectantly. What the hell did _she_ want?

"Are you two losers done staring at me?" she asks with her snobby little attitude as she throws her leftover food away, putting the tray back where it belongs. "Because I wouldn't want people to think we actually knew each other."

Excuse her? She came up to _them._

"The mac and cheese, huh?" Faith mentions, taking notice of what was left on her plate that she just threw out. "No wonder you've been looking a little pudgier. You really gotta cut down on those carbs, Cor. Your fingers are gonna start lookin' like sausages. But hey, that might be an improvement. Bigger shit to fill that gaping cunt of yours, that's for sure."

"Excuse you? Nobody rang _your_ buzzer, halftime hooker," Cordelia told her with an eye roll and a scoff before she mentioned, "Whatever, I don't have time for this. I left my book in math class anyway; I need to go get it." Why the fuck would they care where she left her stupid book? But she doesn't have much time to think about that, because Cordelia goes on, "_Some _of us are planning to graduate, Faith, not just become waitresses at Hooters."

Whatever. Hooters would kill to have her, just for the record. With tits like these? BAM, bitch.

But just as Cordelia leaves, she notices the look shared between her and Xander. Faith's mouth drops open just as Cordelia walks from the lunch room, and Xander turns around and says, "I have to go. I… er, have to get something from my locker."

Faith really hopes they got sucked into some kind of alternate universe, because the conclusion she's rapidly coming to is not pretty.

"Oh no," she starts slowly, waving her hands at him. "Oh _hell_ fucking no!" Faith exclaimed, her voice loud enough to get a few students attention. Xander's eyes go wide, fearing she's about to start screaming her theories all over the lunch room, so he grabs her arm and pulls her outside into the hall. It was deserted except for a few students way down the other end.

"Tell me you're not," Faith starts, her voice low and dangerous. "Xander, fuckin' tell me you're not!"

"Not what?" Xander asks, still trying to get around it. But there was no getting around this.

"_Fucking_ her!" Faith practically shouts. Xander's eyes go wide and he shakes his hands erratically in front of him.

"No, no! I'm not, I swear!"

"Then what the _fuck _was that, Xand? She comes up and 'casually' mentions where she's going to be, and then you try to slip out with some bullshit excuse of your own? I'm not fucking stupid, Xander. You think I haven't pulled that shit in my life before? How the fuck… _Why _the…?" she couldn't even get the questions out, they all sounded so ridiculous. Xander and _Cordelia._ It didn't even make sense. Cordelia hated all of them, and all of them hated Cordelia!

"It's not what you think," Xander says hastily, looking a little worried that Faith was going to implode and take him and half the school out with her.

"Then what the fuck_ is_ it?" Faith demands.

"We just… it just _happened!"_ Xander exclaims, both nervous and ashamed. He looks like he wants to run, but he knows better; he can't outrun Faith.

"_What_ just happened, exactly?" Faith asks. "What, did she slip and fall on your _dick _one day?"

"We're not having sex!"

"Are you mentally _deficient?"_ Faith exclaims. "She treats you like shit; she treats all of us like shit! Can't you keep your dick in check for one fucking minute?"

"Oh, as opposed to you, the girl that sleeps with every woman she meets, breaking hearts along the way?" Xander retorts. "Half the women in this town _hate _you, Faith."

"That's _different!"_

"How?"

"Because I don't fuck bitches that are cunts to us!"

"You slept with _Harmony!"_ Xander shouts, which makes Faith stop for a second. Fuck, yeah she did. He's got her there. She doesn't have a comeback for that, so she chooses to just glare at him instead. This is ridiculous. This didn't even make _sense._

"How did this even _happen?"_ she asks, completely confused. Nothing against Xander, but he didn't exactly seem like Cordelia's type. He wasn't popular, he wasn't a jock. He was just… he was just _Xander._

"It's… a long story," Xander mutters, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah? Well I got time," Faith says, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him expectantly. She couldn't _wait_ to hear this cracked out little fairytale.

"Look… can we please talk about this later?" Xander asks pleadingly. "I just… I need to…"

"You know what? Fine. Whatever. Go have fun suckin' face with the devil wearin' prada. Ain't none of my business," Faith dismisses him, starting to walk away. Whatever, if that two faced bitch is more important than his friends? Then… fucking whatever. He can have his fun. Watch her give a shit.

"No, Faith, wait!" Xander calls after her, but she doesn't look back. She doesn't want to deal with it anymore; she already has enough to deal with as it is.

Shit. This whole fucking world really has gone backwards.

**TBC…**


	30. This Is Not A Clown Car

**CHAPTER THIRTY  
****This Is Not A Clown Car**

Xander and Cordelia? That was probably the most ridiculous thing Faith's heard of since Justin Bieber.

In some fucked up way, it felt like Xander betrayed her. Cordelia had been like, her sworn fucking enemy since she _got_ in this joint. And now suddenly the most popular girl in school decides she wants to use Xander for a little bump n' grind on the down low and he's all over it like a fat kid presented with an all-you-can-eat pass to Arby's? Fuck that. Bet Cordelia's shit hangs like roast beef too.

Whatever, she had more important things to deal with; like how the fuck she's gonna manage going to Homecoming with Buffy. Shit just screamed that something would go wrong.

After classes ended, everyone gathered in the Library for some more training and research. Well, all except Xander, who was MIA. Before Giles and Wesley started getting all Watchery at them, Willow slides in the seat next to Faith, giving her a soft smile, "Hey." Faith looks over at her, snapping her bubble gum and not looking very pleased. Not with her, but with this whole fucking day.

"Hey," she responds, unenthused.

"I heard what happened at lunch," she mentions, looking at Faith closely to gauge her reaction. Faith snaps her bubble gum in response and shrugs.

"What about it?"

"I just… I wanted to tell you that I... I think it's good, you know, t-that you're going to go to Homecoming with Buffy. You should really give dating her a chance," Willow tells her, smiling like it's something to throw a goddamn parade over.

And hey, wasn't Willow the one actively telling her to stay away from Buffy? Well okay, maybe not in so many words, but she did warn her not to hurt her. And now she wants them together? In what fucking bigger way could Faith hurt her than that? She'd make a shit girlfriend, so she'd be bound to fuck Buffy over at one point or another.

"Ain't a date," Faith says flatly. "We're just… goin' together. Not a big thing."

Willow looks at her skeptically, but Faith's eyes are on Buffy, who's trying to teach Kennedy how to anticipate her opponent's moves. She looks entirely too focused; like she's trying to block out the rest of the day's events by overcompensating with training. Faith figures that's probably a good idea. God knows she needs to beat the crap out of something soon or her head might explode.

"Faith, it's—" Willow starts, but is interrupted.

"So how's shit goin' with that girl Tara?" Faith asks, training her eyes on Willow now and giving her her full attention. "You guys learn how to summon the Devil yet?" She smirked, knowing full-well that wasn't what Willow was trying to do.

Willow narrows her eyes at her, knowing she was changing the subject because she wasn't comfortable with the topic. But she relents and responds with a sigh, "W-We're not bad witches, Faith. So no."

"Well then what have you guys been doin'?" Faith asks. "Ain't you been hanging out with her like, everyday?"

"Not every day," Willow mumbles, a bit of a blush coloring her cheeks. "B-But it's been really cool!" she exclaims, smiling. "She's really good; a-and I mean like, really, _really_ good. Much more advanced than I am. She's so powerful, it's amazing. She's been teaching me some basic stuff, but she says that I'm a really fast learner. I can't wait until I can be like…"

"Glinda?" Faith asks, smirking. "Lookin' forward to seein' ya in that pink frilly dress, Red; wavin' your magic wand. Classic."

Willow looks surprised. "You know who Glinda is?"

"What kid _hasn't _seen 'The Wizard of Oz'? Come on," Faith replies, raising an eyebrow. What kind of person did she take her for? Jeez. Even she can respect the classics.

"Sorry, it just didn't seem like something you would be interested in," Willow responds, still looking a little shocked that Faith used and understood a classic pop culture reference. "You like… serial killer movies," she pauses, then adds, "a-and porn." She blushes at her use of her last word, but then remembers last minute, "Oh! And comic book movies!"

"Glad you think I'm so deep, Red," Faith says sarcastically.

"W-Well it's all you ever talk about!" Willow protests, then revises with, "Movie-wise, anyway. Your television preferences seem to be a little broader than that, which is good! It's, you know…. broad. And good with its broadness, so I-I'm not implying you're _simple_ or anything, because that would be bad." Willow scrunches up her face a little and stops herself, thankfully. "You know what I mean," she finishes quieter, her cheeks turning a slight pink because of her ramble.

Faith shrugs lightly. She had to give Willow that at least; she _did _only ever talk about horror flicks, comic book movies, or porn. But it ain't like she's gonna start prancing around singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" just because she's into it. She may be gay, but she ain't flamin'.

"S'Cool, Red," Faith tells her, not wanting Willow to think she offended her. She looks over towards Giles' office once she hears arguing inside, however. Buffy and Kennedy stop their training too to turn towards the door, watching Giles and Wesley walk out of it, deep in mid-argument.

"They're not ready!" Wesley protests.

"I've already taken Faith out a few times myself," Giles tells him calmly, though his patience looks like it's wearing thin by the amount of lines his forehead was now sporting. "Kennedy's progressing at a better than average rate and I believe she is ready for some field work as well."

"This is completely unacceptable," Wesley retorts, shaking his head. "The Council _clearly _states Potentials must be trained for six months before—"

"We may bloody well not _have _six months!" Giles shouts, which makes Wesley fall silent for a moment before he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Be that as it may—"

"We're going to slay vampires tonight?" Kennedy interrupts, a huge grin spreading across her face. She looked like a kid who just got told they could have all the candy in the store.

"With supervision," Giles tells her pointedly, taking off his glasses to clean them in a fit of annoyance due to Wesley's spluttering protests.

"Mr. Giles, the Watcher's Handbook—"

"Oh, _sod _the handbook," Giles responds in a tired tone, to which Wesley's eyes go wide and nearly every adolescent in the room cracked up over. Giles swearing was like seeing Halley's Comet; a once in a lifetime event. Twice if you live a freakishly long time. "The handbook doesn't account for uncontrollable circumstances, which the Master falls under. We need to prepare the girls and throw them into a life or death scenario so they understand the severity of the situation."

Buffy raises her hand. "I understand the severity," she points out with a 'duh' look on her face. "Big bad; my job to slay. Check; got it."

"I know you do, Buffy," Giles responds. "But both Faith and Kennedy aren't out there fighting for their lives every night, and I fear they will be ill equipped to bear the burden of being a Slayer if the worst should happen."

"If I _die,_ you mean," Buffy states, glaring at him and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm sure you won't die, Buffy," Giles tells her sincerely. "You are by far one of the most resourceful and cunning Slayers the Council has seen in ages. But it is also my job to prepare for the 'what ifs' in life, which unfortunately include…"

"My hypothetical death?" Buffy finishes for him with a raised eyebrow when Giles didn't seem inclined to finish his sentence. The older man sighed.

"Precisely."

"Um, if I may..." Wesley started, but was interrupted by Xander walking through the library doors. Giles narrows his eyes.

"Two thirty was not just a suggestion, Mr. Harris," Giles tells him dryly. It was now three o'clock.

Xander looked sheepish. "Sorry I… got lost." Everyone looked at him oddly – all except for Faith who just glared at him – but Wesley interrupted before anyone could ask.

"Excuse me, but I must say that not following the Council's procedures will put both of our potentials at unnecessary risk and—"

"Oh shut up, Wesley," Kennedy groaned, which made Wesley look at her both surprised and disapproving. "We wanna slay!" She grinned wide.

"Yeah, Wes. Chill with the by-the-book shit, we're kicking some ass tonight," Faith tells him. "Story; end of. So either get on the fun-train or get the hell off the tracks before we run your ass over."

"Faith," Giles chides, disapproving at the way she spoke to him. Faith just gives him an innocent look and shrugs. Fuck it, she ain't about to get lectured for telling it the way it is.

Wesley looked flustered. "Well I'm… I'm telling the Council!" he announces dramatically before he storms off into Giles' office, probably to do just that. Giles sighs, rubbing his temples.

Training that day wasn't very long, since Giles told them he needed them to save their strength for tonight. Faith was excited; she loved to slay. Plus, bonus points this time that she doesn't have to do it with just Buffy, because last time was way too fucking awkward.

Giles picked them up in his old dude station wagon, in which Faith wasted no time calling 'shotgun for all eternity', which caused an argument between everyone. But Faith did eventually win, smirking as she sat in front while Buffy, Wesley, and Kennedy were all crammed in the back. Wesley was sulking and complaining the whole time, repeating that he didn't think doing this was such a good idea, but it didn't do much else besides further aggravate Giles.

The first hour of slaying was pretty boring. Even though Faith had slayed before, she had to sit back and watch with Kennedy as Giles gave them a running commentary while Buffy kicked all the ass. Basically it was all "watch her form" and "watch how the vampire reacts"… blah blah. Whatever. Fight, stake; end of story.

Wesley was unusually quiet, though that was probably because he was looking around, increasingly paranoid as he gripped the stake in his hand like it was his only hope to continue breathing. He was white as a sheet. Giles finally takes notice of this and turns to him after Buffy had slayed her fourth vampire of the night, "Are you alright?"

"What? Me?" Wesley asks, his voice a much higher pitch than normal. Faith and Kennedy exchange amused looks. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Man out on the hunt, ready for action, you know… always prepared!"

Giles looks like he's trying to hide his amusement, but it's Buffy who chimes in: "Maybe I should give the next vampire to you, Wesley, since you're all excited and ready for action." She tries to look innocent when Giles give her a disapproving look, knowing that she's picking on him.

"No!" Wesley squeaks, then coughs to try to play his exclamation down. "I mean, no; it is the Slayer's job to rid of the undead. You shouldn't expect that someone will take over for you if you've suddenly grown weary of the task."

"Who said anything about being weary?" Buffy asks as she hops up on a gravestone, idly kicking her feet in the air. "I'm pep – the queen of pep! Not tired in the slightest. In fact, the more vampires the better, I say. I was just trying to give you something to do, since you're…" she smirks, amused, "a man out on the hunt."

Wesley looked as much like a hunter as a toddler did.

"Don't jinx it, B. Jeez," Faith tells her, twirling her stake between her fingers. "You start sayin' shit like that and we're gonna get rushed by an undead football league or somethin'." Buffy rolls her eyes but Faith turns to Giles then, "Is it our turn yet? This is boring."

"Faith, while I admire your… _pluck,_ I do think—"

But Giles didn't get to finish his sentence. Suddenly, four vampires appeared, stopping short when they saw a group of humans idly siting around the graveyard. They grinned, teeth bared.

"Wow, Faith called that one," Kennedy says as she gets up, looking a little nervous as she grips her own stake in her hand tightly. Faith only grins though; about time they had some fucking action!

"Damn, shoulda bet on it," Faith replies as she walks up to stand behind Buffy, who slid off the gravestone looking more than a little annoyed that Faith was right that she jinxed it.

"Dinner's arrived, boys," one vampire says to his friends before they start coming at them, apparently no other words needed.

"Oh, because _that's_ original," Buffy mutters before she leaps into action, throwing punches with what could only be assumed as the leader of the little vampire pack. Faith jumps in without a second thought, gunning for the vampire closest to her. She connects with an uppercut to the jaw, but was quickly pushed to the ground mere moments afterwards. Growling as the vampire got closer to her, thinking it won, she uses her legs to kick him in the stomach to send him sprawling as she got off her feet.

They hear a girly shriek in the middle of all this and then a frantic, "Back! Back creatures of the night!" and Faith looks over to see Wesley looking terrified as one vampire advances on him. Wesley is holding the stake up and it's obvious he doesn't have much of a clue what to do with it, as the other holds out a cross at the vampire. His hands are shaking. Thankfully for him, Giles comes to his rescue.

Faith notices her vampire getting off the ground so she lunges at him again, kicking him in the gut to make him go down again. But he grabs her wrist and pulls her with him and they start rolling around on the ground, trying to gain the upper hand. When it seemed like either had it, suddenly the tables would turn.

Kennedy is trying to hold her own with another vampire, but is failing pretty miserably. While she got in some good punches, she was now pinned against a gravestone, the vampire's fangs descending on her neck. She shrieks and Buffy looks over and without a second thought and throws her stake directly at the vampire on Kennedy. It disappears in a pile of dust. Buffy's lack of concentration on her own fight costs her though and she's punched squarely in the jaw, which makes her eyes flash as she begins to beat the living pulp out of her vampire. She didn't have a stake anymore, so it was all she really could do.

"Fuck, you _asshole!"_ Faith screams as her vampire hits her in the face, making her tooth slice the inside of her cheek. He has her pinned now, having gained the upper hand eventually. He grins at her sadistically in that way that says "I'm going to kill you" and Faith feels her heart rate increase tenfold. Angry and scared, Faith spits blood at him and it gets right in his eye, which blind and disorients him enough for her to ram her stake right into his chest. He shouted as he turned into nothing before her eyes, his last sound dying in the wind. "B!" Faith calls, throwing her stake to Buffy so she could finish hers. Buffy catches it easily and stakes him, coughing a little as she gets off the ground.

A few seconds after that, Giles finishes with his vampire, driving the stake home while a pathetic Wesley does nothing else but just whimper for a second. But then he clears his throat, dusting off his tweed and says, "I... had it all along, but thank you for the assistance, Mr. Giles."

Whatever. Guy's a piece of work.

After another hour or so out in the cemetery, Giles has them all pile in his car to drive them home. Wesley still looks shaken up by his near death encounter, and Kennedy looks pissed that she didn't get to stake any vampires tonight. Faith, however, is grinning ear to ear, proud of herself. She did fucking _good_ tonight. God, she loves the feeling of killing vamps – it's such a rush.

"I would have had him, you know," Kennedy blurts out finally to Buffy, folding her arms into herself and looking at her across from Wesley.

"You—" Buffy starts, but was interrupted by Faith.

"Ken, two more seconds and we woulda had to hold a funeral for your ass."

"Whatever, like you did any better," Kennedy shoots at her. Faith looks at her like she went insane for even _suggesting_ she did as bad as her.

"Hey, I staked a vamp!"

"Yeah well I staked seven, do I get a prize?" Buffy mumbles, thinking the interaction between Kennedy and Faith is ridiculous.

"Girls, please…" Giles tries, attempting to focus on the road.

"Well I dunno, B, what do ya want?" Faith asks, turning around to smirk at Buffy behind her. Buffy flushes red almost instantly and Faith can't help but laugh, which earns her a shove from Buffy, who hit Faith's seat so hard she practically catapulted into the dashboard from the force. "Ow, shit!"

The sudden impact of Faith to his dashboard made Giles jerk, making the vehicle swerve. "Girls!" he shouts as he gets the car back under his control. "This is _not_ a clown car! And Faith, put on your seatbelt before you get yourself killed, now." Faith grumbles and gets back in her seat as Buffy and Kennedy quietly snigger at her getting lectured. She flips them off before she puts on her seatbelt.

But just as they pass the school, on the way to Faith's motel, they hear the unmistakable sound of a scream. Giles slams on the breaks (which made Faith thankful she did buckle up this time) and he doesn't even have to tell Buffy to go check it out before she says, "I'm on it," and jumps out of the car. Everyone else scrambles out after her (all except Wesley, who mumbles something about how someone should guard the car) and they run over to where the sound was heard.

"No, please! My father has money – lots of money, he can pay you! I swear, just please don't kill me!" came the sounds of a hysterical _Cordelia _as they round the corner to the gym. Faith's eyes go wide as she sees one of the football players – Donny or Drake, something or other – lying on the ground, dead. Sucks, but Faith never really knew him so it isn't like a huge blow or anything. Besides, she has other things to focus on; a vampire has Cordelia pinned up against the brick wall, fangs descending. At least, that was until Buffy unloaded a can of whoop ass on him.

"Run!" Buffy tells her as she grabs the vampire by his shirt, pulling him off of Cordelia. The brunette doesn't need to be told twice and she makes a run for it, heading towards Giles.

Faith just stands there, having that fucked up moral moment where she can't even decide if saving Cordelia from a vamp is even _worth _it, but then again that's probably why she's not the decision maker of the group. Buffy has clearly already decided Cordelia's life_ is_ worth saving (why, Faith has no idea) and after a couple punches are thrown, she stakes him cleanly.

Cordelia, however, is still hysterical, even though the threat has been eradicated. Faith resists the urge to roll her eyes as she cries, holding onto Giles like he's the next fucking messiah.

"Are you alright?" he asks her, looking a little overwhelmed by how much Cordelia is all over him.

"You saved me! Oh, it was awful. He was… he was _deformed,_ like some kind of slasher movie psycho and he… he…" she starts bawling all over Giles.

"You're welcome," Buffy says flatly, annoyed that Giles is getting all the credit when he didn't even lift a finger.

"What the fuck were you even doing out here? How stupid _are _you, anyway?" Faith asks harshly, folding her arms across her chest. Bitch has lived in Sunnydale all her life, was there when the whole Harvest shit went down, and she's still chilling out in dark corners? Rub two brain cells together, idiot.

"Faith," Giles says disapprovingly.

"Nah, fuck that shit," Faith responds, growing more agitated as she realized why exactly Cordelia was out here. Took a minute with all the commotion, but her and a popular jock? Not that difficult to put together. "What, were you out here blowin' him? What about Xander?" Fuck, it ain't like she's into the whole… _them _thing, but hell if she's gonna let her treat him like dirt.

"What?" Buffy asks, looking at Faith with wide eyes; surprised.

"Excuse you?" Cordelia shoots at her defensively, looking halfway between angry and scared that Faith just put that out in the open. "Have you gotten too many blows to the head from all those butch dyke bar fights you participate in? What does Xander have to do with anything?" She scoffs, but it isn't convincing.

And jeez, talk about bipolar. One minute she's hysterically crying and the next she seems perfectly fine, albeit a little pissed and freaked.

"Don't play dumb, Princess. You're shit at it," Faith snaps at her, feeling her temper rise. "It's one thing when you fuck around with my friend; it's another when you fuck around behind his back. Ain't no bitch gonna treat him that way."

"Oh my god, are you sleeping with _Xander?"_ Buffy asks, looking at Cordelia like the whole world turned upside down and fucked her in the ass. Yeah, that's how Faith feels.

"God, what is your childhood trauma?" Cordelia shrieks. "Dirk is _dead_—" Right, that was his name. Whatever, she was close. "—and all you can talk about is Xander? He has nothing to do with anything, you side-show, psychotherapy needing _freak!"_

"Bitch, I'll fuckin'—"

"Enough!" Giles yells, silencing them both. "This isn't the time for your quarrels. Cordelia, we'll drive you home. I'll call the authorities and give them an anonymous tip about Dirk—"

"Are you going to tell them vampires ate him?" Kennedy asks, curious.

"Of course not. This town, as susceptible as it's been to frequent vampire attacks, still chooses to live in the dark about what really happens here. It—"

"I am_ not_ riding home with any of you!" Cordelia bursts out suddenly, which makes everyone look at her as she backs away from them a couple steps. "You're all… you're all on _drugs!_ Vampires? He was just… _deformed_, like maybe a birth defect or… I don't know! He—"

Giles looks at all of them pointedly, proving his case.

"How fuckin' thick can you get?" Faith snaps at her, getting impatient. "You were there when that shit when down at the Bronze. Fuck, you've almost been eaten _twice _now. How can you seriously sit there and be up to your scrawny little neck in denial? Seriously; get some perspective, you dumb bimbo."

"Acid!" Cordelia bursts out, pointing at Faith accusingly. "You're all on acid, aren't you? Hallucinating and… And I don't want any part of your… your _weirdo_ delusions! My father—"

"Oh, do shut up," Giles requests tiredly, sick of hearing Cordelia's hysterical high pitched voice that was grinding on everyone's nerves. Cordelia stops, looking at him, offended. "I'm sorry," Giles apologizes, looking a little guilty. "But your hysterics are a little difficult to swallow."

"Vampires are real, Cordelia," Buffy tells her pointedly. "So do yourself a favor and don't go out after dark. I don't particularly like saving someone who's ungrateful; especially twice." And with that Buffy stomps off towards the car. Faith follows, but not before flipping Cordelia off.

God, she hates that girl with every fiber of her being. Not only has she made Faith's life miserable since she got to Sunnydale, but now she managed to sink her claws sunk into Xander and make him her personal whipping boy, _while _she freely cheats on him. That is fucked up. More than fucked up.

Faith doesn't know how she's gonna break the news to Xander.

**TBC…**


	31. Panic

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait... again. I'm back and forth between like five fandoms right now lol**_

**CHAPTER THIRTY ONE  
****Panic**

Being jammed into a car with Cordelia was hell. What made it worse was that Wesley practically got a hard on the minute he took one look at Cordelia, which nearly made Faith lose her dinner all over Giles' swank upholstery. Thankfully, she was the first to be dropped off so she didn't have to bear witness to that yack-fest for very long.

As she gets out of the car though, she turns as she hears Buffy tell Giles, "I'm going to get out here; I'll do a sweep of Rose Chapel cemetery before I head home."

Right, sure. She's getting out _here _so she can walk to a cemetery they_ just _passed a couple minutes ago.

"Do be careful, Buffy," Giles tells her, looking at her in a fatherly manner. She smiles at him as she gets out of the car.

"Careful is my middle name."

"And here I thought it was Anne," Faith mumbles sarcastically, not particularly in the best of moods, mainly because of Cordelia. "The things ya learn." Buffy turns so Faith can bear witness to her rolling her eyes at her, before she turned back to Giles, waving bye to him as she closed the car door.

As the Giles drives off, Faith turns to head towards her motel room. Whatever Buffy wanted to talk about, Faith wasn't particularly in the mood for it. It wasn't her; it was kinda just this whole day. Xander some, Cordelia mostly, Wesley always, and even Kennedy aggravated her a little.

Alright, that's a lie. The whole Homecoming thing kind of rapes Faith's brain, but only cause she didn't know what that even meant for them. Cause shit, nothing can change, can it? She's so sick of having things being so damn confusing. Why can't they just be friends like normal fucking people?

She's never had this problem with any other girl. Sometimes Faith wonders why, but doesn't like the conclusion her brain comes to, so she pushes her theory away immediately.

"Faith?" Buffy asks carefully, watching her walk away.

Faith stops, sighing. She doesn't turn around and she closes her eyes for a second, wishing Buffy would've just let her walk into her motel room without any interruption. "Yeah?" she asks softly, still turning to look at her.

"I…" Buffy starts, then falls silent, a little unsure of herself. The silence prompts Faith to finally turn to look at her.

"What's up, B? Kinda tired."

Buffy blinks, as if throwing herself out of her thoughts. "Yeah, sorry. I just, I wanted to apologize if… if what I asked earlier was… you know, a little…"

"Out of left fuckin' field?" Faith finishes for her. They already did this song and dance and it had an entirely different outcome than it did this time around.

"I was going to say 'unexpected', but that works too," Buffy replies, digging her toe in the gravel for a moment. She shrugs, "So… I'm sorry."

Faith stares at her for a moment, unsure about how to answer that. On one hand if she says it was cool, Buffy might take that to mean more than what it is. But if she says that it just made everything weird again, then Buffy could get pissed. So Faith just shrugs and says neutrally, "It's whatever."

Buffy looks like she doesn't know how to take that; not that Faith could blame her. "Uh… okay," she starts. "You're… okay with it though, right?" God, Buffy looks like… like such a_ girl_ right now. It makes Faith feel funny.

"Said it's whatever, B."

"That's not really an answer."

Faith sighs, frustrated. "Fine, yeah, I'm fuckin' okay with it, alright? Christ, B. I'm tired and this day has been shit and I don't…" she runs her fingers through her hair, irritated, "I don't wanna do this right now, okay? I'll go with you, it's cool. But we're just… goin' together. That's it, yeah? So it ain't like… a big thing."

"No, I mean; yeah, of course. I… I get it," Buffy says, trying to hide her disappointment yet failing miserably. Faith lets out a long breath and tries to ignore the slight throbbing in her temples.

"We're supposed to be just friends, B."

"I know," Buffy insists, giving her a small smile that she seemed to struggle with a little. She bites her lower lip then and shoves her hands in her pockets, leaning against one of the cars in the parking lot. "Look, I…" she takes a breath, looking like she's feeling a little awkward for bringing this up, "about what I said in the graveyard…"

"Really don't wanna talk about that," Faith replies, immediately putting her defenses up. What Buffy said in the graveyard made her feel… well, it made her _feel._ Period. Faith's pretty sure she's allergic to that kind of shit. She turns to walk away, content on just leaving Buffy standing there since she already told her she didn't want to do this right now, but what Buffy says next makes her freeze.

"I know it scared you."

Faith whips around and snaps defensively, "You don't scare me, B. Nothing fuckin' scares me." Well that was one large load of crap, but whatever. Never show weakness, right? If someone knows they scare you then they have power over you and the last thing Faith was going to do was let_ anyone_ have power over her. She has enough crap going on in her life already; she didn't need to be anyone's damn whipping post.

Buffy outright laughed at that, which made Faith shoot her a glare like she wanted to flay her alive on the spot. "Faith, you literally _ran away."_

"Just fuck off, okay? I don't have time for this," Faith snapped, getting fed up as she turned to walk towards her motel room. Buffy went after her, speaking as she tried to catch up.

"Look, I understand that any sign of actual human emotion scares the living crap out of you," Buffy tried, sounding a little desperate; she didn't want her to shut her out. Faith ignored her though, digging her pockets for her keys once she got to her door. "And I was only trying to tell you that I get that you're just not ready for that yet; that it may even be years for you to be ready for something like that. It just hurts that you don't just shut me out, but _everyone_ out. It makes me scared that you're going to end up miserable and alone for the rest of your life."

"Why do you even _care?"_ Faith shouts, whipping back around and pointing at her with the hand that's holding her keys. It almost looks like she's trying to threaten her with them, if not for the fact that both of them know Buffy could put her down before she even made a move to. "That's what I don't get, B. I'm not worth all this goddamn effort; you seriously need a fuckin' hobby."

Buffy looks at her in disbelief. "You _are _worth it, Faith," she tells her, sounding genuinely confused that Faith would say something like that. Then again, Faith did always make a point to be the cockiest bitch on this side of the coast. "You really think that little of yourself?"

"Look, I'm going to say this _once,"_ Faith starts, her agitation reaching new heights. She needs this to stop; all of it. "And I'm only telling you this shit because you are in _serious _need of a reality check, here. Me? Probably the worst fuckin' person you'd ever want to get attached to." Buffy looks like she's going to protest, but Faith won't let her get a word out. "I'm piss poor, I fuck practically anything that moves, I'm pretty sure I might be an alcoholic, and if you knew even a_ fraction _of my past you'd probably have fuckin' nightmares for the rest of your life." Some kind of emotion Faith doesn't recognize flickers over Buffy's features, but she ignores it and finishes, "So as far as catches go? I'm not exactly prize winning or anything."

Buffy doesn't say anything; she's probably just trying to let everything Faith just said sink in. But Faith was feeling a little bit exposed now that she just admitted all that, so she turns and shoves her key in the door, content on leaving Buffy standing there. She said what she needed to say; hopefully now Buffy would get it and just back off.

"You're strong," Buffy tells her, making Faith stop for a second once she has the door open. "And you're beautiful, and _smart."_ Faith clenches her jaw and doesn't turn around, but she doesn't move to go in and shut Buffy out either. "You're protective, you're extremely loyal… at least to the people you care about anyway, and you… you make me feel safe when I'm with you." She pauses and Faith knows she's getting all kinds of girly and emotional on her, which is the main reason she hasn't turned around. "Faith, what girl _wouldn't _want to be called yours?" Her voice breaks a little when she says that; she sounds so sad.

Girly and emotional seems to be catching though and Faith starts feeling all these things she wishes she could just rip out of her and throw across the damn parking lot. Her grip tightens on the door handle of her room; yet she still doesn't move, nor turn around. Part of her wanted to run into her room and lock Buffy out of her _life, _but another part of her was wanting her to just turn around and kiss her with everything she had in her. The result was that she couldn't move an inch because both urges were equally as strong.

"Look, I… I didn't come here to try to convince you to be with me," Buffy tells her softly, realizing that this conversation is going in the complete opposite way than she intended. "I only came here to tell you that I understand why you can't be right now and to ask that you…" she sighs a little, sounding worn out. "I just— I need you to stop confusing me. If you want us to be friends then… then I need time to get over you."

Have you ever heard that saying, 'you want what you can't have'? Well, that seems to be exactly what Faith is exercising at the moment because when Buffy was being clingy she wanted her gone, but now, the second Buffy tells her she needs to get over her…

Faith turns around, opening the door to her motel room a little wider. "Come in," she tells her flatly, motioning her head inside. When the words leave her mouth, Faith knows instantly that she's probably being really fucking stupid, but she all of a sudden didn't want her to leave. Why? She doesn't know; in all honesty she doesn't even _care _seeing as that'd probably entail some serious deep thoughts time and well, she didn't do all that.

Faith likes simplicity: if she wants Buffy to leave she'll tell her to leave. If she wants her to stay, she'll tell her to stay. No need figuring out the 'why' part of the equation; that's just bound to give her a headache.

She just… wanted her _around._ Not forever, just… for now.

Buffy looks confused. "What?" Faith doesn't answer right away though, so she puts on her hands on her lips and begins lecturing her, "See, and this what I was saying about mixed signals, Faith. You can't just—"

"B," Faith interrupts in a tone of immense unenthusiasm, "I've had a shit day, okay? So I was thinking of just downin' a bottle of JD and callin' it a night. But seeing as we're doing the whole buddy-buddy thing now, I figured you may wanna stick around just to make sure I don't choke on my own vomit when I pass out. Cause, y'know, that's what friends are for and all."

"Oh, that's _great_, Faith, really," Buffy snaps, a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Because the cure to your alcoholism is definitely _more alcohol."_

Faith shrugs as she walks into her motel room telling her, "Take it or leave it, but in thirty seconds I'm closing that door; decide which side you want to be on when I do." She heads towards her bureau and opens up the second to last drawer, digging for the one bottle she had left.

Buffy's still standing outside, unsure if she wants to get herself involved in this mess. But once she sees Faith grab the bottle out of her drawer, she lets out a sigh of aggravation and steps inside, closing the door behind her. "I hate you," she tells her.

Faith laughs a little and twists the cap off the bottle before taking a swig. Buffy makes a face of distain at her behavior so when Faith sits down on the bed she holds up the bottle, "Want some?" She knows she doesn't by the look on her face, but for some reason offering it anyway amused Faith slightly.

"Ugh. No, thank you."

"Thought you said ya missed alcohol?" Faith counters, remembering how badly Buffy wanted some the last time they went to The Bronze.

"I drink when I'm having a good time with my friends, Faith. What I _don't_ do is drink alone to try to dull my pain and run away from the world; for some reason that seems a little pathetic, don't you think?" Buffy retorts, giving Faith a sweet smile once she scowls at her.

"You think you know me so well, but you're so fuckin' far off base it ain't even funny," Faith says as she leans back against her headboard, taking another large swig. "This right here?" she tells her after she swallows, "It ain't me drowning my sorrows or whatever the hell else you think I'm doing. This is me taking a shit day and turning it around by finally having some _fun."_

"Right, because I can see how this is _so _much fun," Buffy replies sarcastically. "I'm really missing out here."

"Damn straight," Faith says, ignoring her sarcasm as she continues to drink like it's going out of style. She doesn't actually plan on being awake for very much longer. Buffy just stands there and watches her, fuming silently, but when she's nearly halfway done with the bottle suddenly it's ripped from her grasp. Some of it spills of Faith's shirt and she coughs, trying not to choke. "What… the _fuck?"_ she gasps in between coughs.

"Yeah, you're done," Buffy tells her, not sounding very amused. "This is ridiculous, Faith. I'm not your goddamn babysitter."

"Give me the fuckin' bottle, B," Faith says, holding out her hand expectantly. She has to blink heavily though for a second to clear her vision; she saw two Buffy's for a second. Damn, she shouldn't have drank that fast.

"Or what? You'll fall flat on your face trying to get to me? Look at you; you didn't even take a breath between consuming all of that, Faith!" Buffy exclaims, gesturing at the state of her. "You didn't let your body even have a _second _to process it and now you're completely trashed in under fifteen minutes. Way to go; the award for stupidity goes to _you _this year. I swear to god, if you end up getting alcohol poisoning I'm going to kill you."

"I'm _fine,_ for fuck's sake," Faith protests. Sure she feels a little buzzed and was loopy for a second there, but now she's pretty much alright.

"Yeah, you're alright now. Give it ten minutes," Buffy tells her, not looking amused in the slightest. She walks over to the bureau and places the bottle on it, staring at it for a second before she whips around accusingly. "Why are you _doing_ this to me?" she asks. "Why did you want me here to witness this? Are you looking for pity or something?"

Faith snorts. "Pity for _what?_ My life's fuckin' fantastic, thanks," she slurs waving Buffy off like an annoying insect.

"Right, it totally looks fantastic right now," Buffy tells her sarcastically, shaking her head. "What the hell is really going on, Faith?"

"_Nothing,"_ Faith stresses, growing annoyed. She tries to stand up so she can get back _her_ bottle, but it seems like all of the alcohol in her body hits at her at once from the change in velocity and she nearly falls down. She would have anyway, if Buffy wasn't faster and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Christ," Buffy mutters as she helps Faith get back to the bed, sitting her down. "Are you alright? I told you this was going to happen. You drank way too much _way_ too fast."

"Don't need a fuckin' babysitter," Faith mumbles, closing her eyes to make the room stop spinning. She knew Buffy was right, but it wasn't like she wanted to hear it or anything. God, she felt sick; she needed to lie down.

Well, one thing was for sure: she definitely was gonna end up passing out relatively quickly, so a point for her in that column at least.

"Clearly you do," Buffy tells her, shifting a little on the bed to allow Faith room to lie down.

It wasn't a conscience decision on Faith's part by any means, but her head somehow found its way into Buffy's lap. Faith's hoping it just randomly fell there. She'd move, but moving required effort and not feeling like she's going to vomit.

Buffy purses her lips but allows Faith to make camp in her lap. After a moment she even begins to stroke her hair softly, which Faith wishes didn't feel as good as it did. "Faith…" she whispers, sounding a little upset. "Please talk to me. What's going on? I know you drink but you don't… you don't drink like _that."_

"Sick of feelin'," Faith mumbles, not at all aware that she's admitting weakness. Everything on her feels heavy and she wishes that the world would just stop _moving._ She has her eyes closed and still feels like she's spinning out of control.

"Feeling what?" Buffy asks softly.

"Everything. Anything."

Buffy sighs a little, continuing to comb her fingers softly through Faith's hair. "Is this my fault?" she asks, needing to know. "Is that why you wanted me here; to punish me for it?"

"I just… wanted you here," Faith admits quietly, her words kind of garbled as the desire to sleep takes hold of her. Her mouth is more running on autopilot at this point; her brain completely unaware of the conversation she's participating in.

"Why?" Buffy asks, not understanding in the slightest.

"I like… you..." Faith mumbles, her words almost completely indistinguishable. "Safe…" she mutters, right before sleep takes hold of her and she passes out.

The blonde takes a shaky inhale of breath after hearing Faith's admission and looks down at the sleeping girl in her lap, her fingers brushing the hair away from her face. "I just wish you could tell me that when you're sober," Buffy whispers sadly. "But I know you never will."

* * *

When Faith wakes up, she feels like she had been hit in the head repeatedly with a two by four. She also finds when she's coherent enough that she's lying in vomit; probably her own. Actually, definitely her own. "Fuck my life," she groans, her whole body feeling like sludge as she tries to sit up. A wave of nausea passes over her once she moves though and she fights the urge to vomit all over her floor. She closes her eyes and wishes she could just go back to sleep and say fuck the world, but she apparently puked on herself in the middle of the night and she needs to shower.

It takes a moment, but when Faith finally opens her eyes she realizes she isn't in bed alone. She nearly jumps out of her freaking skin, but once she realizes its Buffy she relaxes. She must have stayed the night to make sure she didn't _die _or anything.

Fuck.

Faith tries to remember last night, but the last thing she can remember is nearly falling down and Buffy catching her. All she can do is pray to God that she didn't do or say something incredibly fucking retarded in her drunken stupor. At least Buffy still had all her clothes on, which was… good. Well, not good but it definitely didn't put her in the 'oh shit' column yet.

God, why did she even _do_ that? In what messed up part of her mind did she actually fucking think drinking that much would be helpful? Because right now all she wants to do is die to make this hangover from hell go away. Sometimes she wonders why people even let her make her own decisions; all she does is make bad ones.

Faith carefully crawls out of bed so as to not wake Buffy and heads into her bathroom, turning on the shower. She tries not to breathe in as she takes off her vomit soaked shirt and then shimmies out of her jeans and underwear. Every inch of her is screaming in pain but she sucks it up as she steps under the warm jet of water, needing to wash away the remnants of her idiocy last night.

She can't even remember why she did it in the first place. Then again, knowing her she probably didn't even know why she was doing it _when _she did it. Faith's never been real big on the self-exploration thing; she lives off of her surface urges. Which while they had always worked for her in the past, are now actually becoming an annoyance. It's one thing to do what you want, when you want it, but it's another thing entirely to do shit and have no idea why anymore.

Sometimes Faith wonders if she's subconsciously trying to become some sort of robot or something. Honestly, probably wouldn't be so fucking bad, actually; to never feel anything.

As she's washing the shampoo out of her hair, she's suddenly surprised to realize she's crying. It startles her because she's been too lost in her own thoughts to notice, and it scares her a little that she's so freaking out of touch with her own damn feelings that its making her start to feel like she's a stranger in her own body. "Fuck, what the fuck," she swears, wiping the tears away violently. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" she exclaims, not really expecting an answer but needing to voice it out loud anyway.

This didn't make any sense; none of this made any goddamn sense. Did she have some sort of mental breakdown last night or something? Has she gone completely bat shit _insane?_ Because if this is what insanity feels like, she doesn't want it – no matter how much of a great excuse it makes.

"Shit," she swears, leaning against the far wall of the shower and sliding down it until she's crouched into a ball at the base of her tub. She's totally cracking up and if she doesn't pull herself together she's going to be finding herself with a one way ticket to the loony bin. Maybe it was just stress… with an apocalypse there's bound to be stress, right? And then with all the bullshit with Cordelia, Xander, and Buffy yesterday maybe she just… cracked.

That might be part of it, but it definitely wasn't all of it; Faith could tell that much as her tears didn't stop no matter how much she tried to hold them in. She was crying so hard she was practically choking but she just couldn't pull herself together; probably what happens when you keep everything bottled inside of you and only allow yourself to cry once a goddamn year, if that.

She was sad though; she could recognize the feeling now, though it was mixed with something else. But she didn't know _why _she was sad and that made her want to scream and punch a hole in the wall. How can someone just_ cry_ and not know why? Is she that much of a _freak?_

Scared; that's what the other feeling was. But with the end of the world just around the corner, isn't that to be expected? Shit's raining down and fuck knows if they can stop it; hell, the chances of Buffy surviving it are slim to none, even though they all put on a brave face and tell her she'll do fine…

That one, single thought makes her break down even harder and now she's shaking, trying to suck in as much air as she can through her tears so she doesn't end up passing out and drowning. The lump in her throat is painful and her esophagus feels like its closing and… fuck, Faith's pretty sure she's starting to have a panic attack.

She tries to climb out of the tub, not bothering to turn the shower off as she lands heavily on the linoleum floor. She needs to calm down, she needs to_ fucking_ calm down so she can breathe, but she keeps thinking about Buffy dying, herself dying, Xander, Willow, Giles… and she can't deal with it. She can barely see through her tears and her whole body still kills from her hangover and for a split second she fears she's going to die on the floor of her bathroom just from sheer _panic._ How pussy is that?

Buffy must have heard her hit the floor though because suddenly the bathroom door opens and she's standing there; frozen for a second when she sees her friend naked, crying, and barely able to breathe. "Faith!" she exclaims, panic in her voice as she kneels down, trying to find some way to help her.

But Faith can't move, she can't speak, and suddenly without any warning her world goes black.

**TBC…**


	32. RPG: A Kinky Sex Thing?

**CHAPTER THIRTY TWO  
****RPG: A Kinky Sex Thing?**

When Faith wakes up, she finds herself in a hospital bed. "Shit," she groans, holding up her hand and finding an IV attached to it. This is probably the most embarrassing thing to ever happen in her life and worse – it had witnesses. When Buffy hears Faith swear she looks up from her magazine and then suddenly it's dropped to the floor, forgotten about as she rushes over to her bedside.

"You're awake," she says, voice filled with relief. Actually, Faith's pretty sure she wants to shoot her fucking face off and _not_ be awake anymore, thanks; this is mortifying. "You scared the crap out of me," Buffy tells her, grasping her hand and holding it like she doesn't want to let her go. She's looking at her in a way that makes Faith's heart rate increase and so she looks away, staring out the door to the hospital room.

"Who else knows?" she asks, needing to know how many damn people knew she was too much of a pansy bitch to deal with everything that's going on.

"Uh," Buffy starts, sounding a little confused as to why Faith would ask that first. But she tells her, "After I called 911 I got your mother because I just didn't… I didn't know what to do. So it's just the two of us. Why?"

Faith locks her jaw for a second, not saying anything as she continues to stare out the door. Finally she requests softly, "Please don't fuckin' tell anyone. I don't need the whole goddamn world knowing I can't handle my own shit."

"Hey," Buffy prods, holding her hand a little tighter and making Faith turn to look at her. "I won't tell, I promise." Faith doesn't say anything so Buffy takes a breath, not exactly knowing what to do now. "Your mother went to go get something to eat – I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Great," Faith says flatly, not exactly looking forward to her mother freaking out at her. She chews on the inside of her cheek for a little bit, being overly aware that Buffy's still holding her hand but not exactly wanting her to let it go either. "They tell ya what happened?" she asks finally, choosing to stare at the wall instead of her.

"They… said you had a pretty severe panic attack," Buffy admits, running her thumb lightly over the back of Faith's hand. "And I'm not going to ask," she goes on softly, "but only because I know you won't tell me."

The way Buffy says that makes Faith look over at her; it sounded like Buffy didn't think Faith trusted her and that was probably the furthest thing from the truth. Faith trusts her too much – that's the problem. "B, we all might die in like, a freakin' _week._ What the hell did you think it was about?"

"We're not going to die," Buffy tells her seriously. She pauses, then revises that sentence, "Well, _you're _not going to die. Me? Maybe." She tries to look okay with that, but Faith can see the fear that registers on her face once she really thinks about that possibility. She tries to brush it off with a failed attempt at humor though because she finishes with, "But you know, that's my job; destined to die young for the good of others. You'd think I'd get paid more for it… or at all."

"And you think I should be fuckin' okay with it because only _you_ might die?" Faith snaps. That's the reason the panic attack started; with the possibility that Buffy may die. Her and her friends were only secondary thoughts; she knows Buffy's the one in the most danger here. "I don't want you to die either!"

"No, I—look, I promise I won't die…" Buffy tries, but she's interrupted by Faith screaming at her.

"You can't promise shit like that, Buffy!"

"Fai?"

Faith turns to see her mother standing in the doorway. God, she hopes she wasn't standing there long; it'd be a bitch to try to explain why two teenage girls were worrying about _dying._ But by the look on her face, she seems to have heard at least part of it. "What's going on?" she asks lightly, yet her tone is full of suspicion as she walks over to her bedside.

"Nothin' Mum, me and B were just having an argument. S'Cool though."

"An argument about dying?" Caroline inquires, looking at the two of them, making damn sure they both knew she wasn't about to fuck around with this conversation. "Why the hell would two teenage girls be worrying about something like that?" Her voice was all accusing and with Faith's luck she probably thinks they made a friggin' suicide pact or something.

She might be stupid, but she ain't _that _stupid.

"Drugs!" Buffy bursts out with suddenly, making Faith turn and look at her like she's lost her freaking mind. "We're on drugs; lots and lots of… drugs," she tells her, not sounding convincing in the slightest. "That's why we're afraid of dying soon. You know, because drugs are bad and everything." Her eyes shift to look at Faith and she has this expression on that says 'help me!'

Faith wanted to smack Buffy across the back of the head for that crap, and then bang her own against a wall. Her mother wouldn't buy that she's into drugs; she knows how much she hates that _she_ does them.

"Drugs, huh?" Caroline replies flatly, clearly not believing that for a second.

Faith tries to think of something fast and comes up with probably the lamest excuse ever. "Nah, Mum. It ain't drugs it's… uh, we were just playing an RPG." Not that she's ever actually played one, but she hangs out in comic book shops – she's bound to browse through other shit sometimes. Buffy looks at her like she has no freaking clue what that even is, but Faith squeezes her hand tightly, silently telling her to go along with it.

"What's an RPG?" Caroline asks, not having a clue either.

This is so going to prove how completely dorky she really is, but fuck it. Rather this then 'Hey Mum, don't worry – we were just talking about the apocalypse!'

"Role Playing Game. Like, Dungeons and Dragons and shit; ya act stuff out and whatever," Faith explains, trying to sound relatively convincing. "But it's like… usually for scrawny little virgins and me and B got a rep to protect at school so it ain't like we're exactly forthcoming about the shit."

"Drugs are more socially acceptable," Buffy chimes in, shooting a look at Faith.

"Right," Faith agrees before shifting her eyes to look back at her mother. "So if anyone asks, we're shootin' up dope or something."

Caroline looks at both of them like she doesn't understand why anyone would rather say they were doing drugs than playing a game, but she shakes her head, not wanting to get into it. "Nevermind. Do what you guys want, but Faith don't be stupid and go around telling people you're doing drugs. If the 5-0 start knocking at our door and one of us gets a record in this town, you know your father will be here in—"

"Don't fuckin' talk about him!" Faith bursts out, pissed that she's even mentioning this shit with Buffy in the room.

Caroline looks a little peeved that she just got interrupted _and _screamed at, but she looks at her pointedly and tells her, "You know I have a point. So please don't pull that shit, okay?"

"Fine, fuckin' whatever. Okay? Just shut up about it."

Caroline sighs, knowing she's not going to get anywhere with that conversation. And damn straight too; the last thing Faith even wants to _think_ about is her no good deadbeat Dad. He ain't gonna find them; he's just _not._ "They did a tox-screen on you," Caroline mentions. "They told me your blood alcohol level was wicked high. What the hell have you been _doing?"_

"Drinkin', obviously," Faith deadpans.

"Yeah, well I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted, because I'm not buying you anything again," Caroline told her, apparently trying to actually be a mother for once.

"_What?"_ Faith exclaims, getting angry. "Mum, don't be such a fuckin' hypocrite!"

"Look, I might not be winning 'Mother of The Year' any time soon, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna just sit there and watch you fuck up your own life at sixteen! You're lucky I'm not sticking you in rehab."

"My life is _fine!"_ Faith screeches, furious. "And look who's fuckin' talking, huh? _I _should go to rehab?"

Buffy's looking increasingly uncomfortable with this entire interaction; but she stays quiet, continuing to hold onto Faith's hand.

"This isn't about me," Caroline tells her sternly, getting angry herself. "I already threw away my own life, but _you _actually have a chance at a future."

Faith scoffs, "Sure. What-the-fuck-ever, Mum." This is complete _bullshit._ Her mother can sit there and snort up pounds of drugs, but whenever she has a shit day she can't enjoy a damn _drink?_

Faith isn't doing her anymore favors. This designated drug runner has _retired._

Caroline sighs, knowing that Faith's going to be angry with her for quite a while. "I'm going to go find the doctor. Now that you're awake you should be able to get released soon."

"Whatever," Faith mumbles, making a point to not look at her. This is such _crap._ She can hear her mother let out another small sigh before she turns, heading from the room. Buffy's looking at her intently, but Faith ignores her too.

"Faith?" Buffy starts softly, sounding a little confused. "What's a role-playing game? Is that like some kind of kinky sex thing because—"

Faith can't help but bust out laughing. "B, I said it was for nerdy virgins; how did you get 'kinky sex thing' from that?"

"Well I thought you might have just been lying! I don't know," Buffy protests, flushing. She looks a little unsure of herself as she continues, "But that can be a sex thing, right? Or am I just stupid and making myself out to sound like a huge pervert all in the span of thirty seconds?"

Faith chuckles, far too amused by Buffy's embarrassment. "Yeah, B. It can be a sex thing._ Not_ what I was talkin' about though, but interesting that that's where ya mind went immediately."

Buffy blushes beet red. "I wasn't thinking about us doing it or anything!" she protests, groaning as she pitches her head forward, burying it in Faith's hospital bed sheets. "I should just remove my vocal cords – save myself the embarrassment," she mumbles.

Faith snickers, patting Buffy on the head like an adorable puppy. "Nah, ya wouldn't be nearly as entertaining that way."

But after she finishes patting her head, she finds that her fingers slip through Buffy's hair softly of their own accord. Buffy lifts her head up to look at her and Faith _almost_ brushes a piece of hair away from her face before her hand freezes and she puts it down rather awkwardly. She clears her throat, knowing she should probably untangle her other hand from Buffy's since they've been like that for like ten minutes, but she didn't know how to do it without making it obvious that she's freaking out a little.

Buffy however apparently feels the need to make_ everything_ more awkward because she wastes no time leaning in, kissing Faith soundly on the lips. Faith means to pull away immediately, but finds that she can't. It's like her body is running on autopilot as her tongue lightly teases Buffy's, her hand squeezing hers just a little bit tighter.

God, she's totally fucked, isn't she?

When they break, Faith tries to say something but Buffy doesn't give her the chance to. "Don't," she tells her seriously. "You just scared the living crap out me, I thought you were going to _die,_ and especially after all the selfish crap you pulled last night the least you can do is give me that."

Well look at Buffy laying some smack down. Faith can't help but smirk a little bit, but she shrugs, relenting, "Fine. But we're not in a relationship." She doesn't know if she's trying to convince Buffy or herself at this point.

"I know that," Buffy tells her, sighing a little. "Trust me; I'm more than aware of that." She takes a breath and brings their linked hands up to her lips, kissing her hand so softly that it makes Faith feel weird and she has to look away from her. "But can you do me a favor and stop doing really stupid things?" Buffy requests seriously. "Whether you want me to or not, I do care about you. A lot, if I'm being honest."

"Was just havin' a bad night," Faith mumbles, finally taking the initiative to untangle her hand from Buffy's, making the older girl sigh softly in disappointment.

"We all have bad nights, Faith. But that's not a reason for you to try to recreationally give yourself liver failure. And maybe if you just talked to someone about what's going on, then maybe you wouldn't have completely freaked out like that. You can't keep everything buried inside of you forever; all it's going to do is make you explode."

"S'Cool, B," Faith dismisses, not wanting to get into any of this. "I'm dealin' now. Stuff just kinda felt out of control for a sec, but I know I gotta pull my shit together." The apocalypse isn't going to stop itself, after all.

But Faith does know she's gotta deal with some of her issues, cause it ain't just that hell might be raining down on their heads at any given moment. The Buffy thing is obviously a huge factor in her freak out, but it's gotten to the point where everything is so messed up and the lines are so blurred that she doesn't even know what to do about it anymore. At this point she's just about to say fuck it and let what happens happen just so she stops driving herself halfway out of her mind cause of it. On top of that, she feels like she's losing her two best friends; she's been going through all this crap lately and Willow's always hanging out with that Tara girl and Xander's off getting himself some. Faith's always prided herself in not needing anyone, but clearly that whole things been shot to fuck because she hates how alone she feels right now.

Buffy looks at her skeptically, but she doesn't push it. Instead she says, "Good, because I wouldn't want my date for Homecoming to die before I could make my move." She sounds like she's only half joking and Faith narrows her eyes at her.

"Pushin' it, B."

Buffy smirks, knowing that she is. "I know. But I can't help but take advantage of the fact that you're not pulling away as hard today."

* * *

Faith would like to think the only reason she wasn't pulling away from Buffy was because she had an IV stuck in her arm and couldn't exactly bolt out the door, but that'd be a lie. She doesn't dwell on it though because the last thing she really needs is another mental breakdown.

Homecoming though; Buffy did remind her that it's coming up soon and Faith still hasn't figured out a dress situation. Once she's out of the hospital and back in her own motel room, she starts going through her shit to see if she had anything worth pawning. Problem is, she doesn't exactly have a lot to her name. Her comic books ain't going to amount to enough and outside of that she doesn't own much else besides her clothes.

This sucks; she doesn't know how she's gonna pull this crap off. It's not like she can ask her mother for money because a) she doesn't have any and b) Faith's still pissed off like all holy hell at her for basically cutting her off from liquor. What even gives her the _right?_ What's more fucked up is that if her Mum wasn't too busy blowing all her money on cocaine, she probably _would _have the money to get her a damn dress.

_Her cocaine._

Faith has a really bad idea, but because she's pissed it translates into a brilliant one in her head. If her mother wants to cut her off, fine; then she'll cut _her _off. Her mother just got a new bag yesterday and handed it over to Faith to manage her use and if she sold it she could probably get at least eighty dollars from it; that's enough to get her dress _and _shove a big 'fuck you' in her mother's face.

Faith smirks; well, that's one problem solved.

She looks over at her phone and sighs a little; now for her second problem. She climbs to her feet, leaving her comic books spread all across the floor, and walks over to her phone. After dialing Xander's number, she settles back on her bed and rhythmically slaps her boots with her hand, having the overwhelming urge to just _move_ all of a sudden.

Xander picks up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Xand; need ya over here in like fifteen," Faith tells him, not bothering to say hello.

Xander noticeably pauses. "Is this one of those times where if I go over there you're going to kick my ass? Because I bruise easily."

"Dude, I ain't ever kicked your ass, so no," Faith replies flatly. Xander should know better than to think that she'd actually do that, even if she is pissed at him. "Just come over, okay? Got shit goin' on." She pauses, not knowing if she should tell him this but figuring she might need the extra push to actually get him to come, so she adds, "I just got out of the hospital."

"What?" Xander exclaims. "What the hell happened, Faith?"

"Just come over, okay?" Faith requests a little impatiently. She doesn't want to do this over the phone.

"Alright," Xander relents, sounding a little worried. "I'll be over there in a second."

Xander was over her house in less than twenty minutes and once Faith hears him knock on the door she yells, "Come in!" The door opens cautiously, like Xander still isn't sure that he won't get decked in the face, and Faith rolls her eyes once he peeks his head around to look at her sitting on the bed. "Not gonna hit you, Xand. Chill out."

Xander laughs nervously, but walks all the way into the room and closes the door behind him. "I knew that," he tells her unconvincingly. "So what happened?" he asks, sitting next to her on the bed. "Demon attack?"

"Fuckin' wish," Faith says sighing, rubbing her temples. "Nah, I just… drank too much and kinda passed out. Wouldn't wake up and B freaked," she lied, figuring that's a better thing to say than she had a full blown panic attack. She trusts Xander, but that's not exactly something she wants everyone knowing.

"Faith…" he starts, voice filled with disapproval.

"I know, I know; don't start. I already got an ear full from B _and _my Mum, who by the way refuses to buy me liquor now. Fuckin' hypocrite."

"While I applaud your Mom for… well, actually being a mom; it is a little hypocritical," Xander agrees. "Not that I'm advocating for you to drink yourself into a coma either, I was just saying."

"For fuck's sake, I'm not trying to drink myself into a _coma!"_ Faith exclaims, getting a little sick of everyone worrying about it. "You guys need to stop freaking out about something that's barely even an issue right now."

"You ended up in the hospital," Xander points out flatly.

"Only _once,"_ Faith retorts, like it's some kind of brilliant excuse. She waves it off though, "Whatever, I didn't have ya over to talk about me. What the hell is going on with you and Chlamydia?"

"You mean _Cordelia?"_ Xander corrects, trying to not look amused by the nickname, yet failing miserably. Faiths smirks.

"Same thing. But yeah; what I meant. And I'm sorry I like… freaked the fuck out on you before it was just, I dunno, unexpected," Faith tries to apologize, albeit a little awkwardly. She shrugs, "Plus right before that B asked me to Homecoming and my head was all kinds of in a screwed up place, y'know?"

Xander shifts uncomfortably on the bed but says, "Yeah, I get it. It just… I don't know how it happened. It was kind of a blur. One minute we were screaming at each other and the next… _bam;_ we were making out. She kind of jumped on me, actually. I could have sworn we got sucked into an alternate universe or something."

"See, I don't get it. I just… she fucking _hates_ us, Xander," Faith replies, still confused because that seriously cleared _nothing_ up for her. "When the hell did this even start?"

"The day we found out Kennedy was a potential Slayer too," he answers. "I was in the supply closet trying to get… uh, supplies—"

"Were you stealin' shit again?" Faith asks, chuckling a little.

"Look, it's not my fault all my number two pencils disappear all the time; I swear we have a ghost in this school – a nerdy ghost who likes Algebra! I was just trying to stock up," Xander defends. "Besides, they have like a thousand boxes of those things, it's not like they're going to notice if I… borrow one."

Faith snorts, but motions for him to continue. The pencils weren't the point.

"Okay so I'm in there getting pencils and all of a sudden Cordelia comes running in completely freaked out because I guess the mirror in the girls room started talking to her? I don't know, she wasn't making any sense. Anyway, she closed the door to the supply closet after she ran in and kind of… locked us in there," Xander explains. "So of course she starts yelling at me like it's _my_ fault she closed the door. So I start yelling at her and I don't know, we were doing that for about twenty minutes and all of a sudden… she's like, on top of me."

Faith blinks. That still makes a sense that is none. _"Why?"_

"I don't know! I still don't know. I don't know what's going on or _why_ it's going on, but it just is! Now she's pulling me into bathrooms and closets and making out with me randomly before she completely switches_ personalities_ and is all 'get off me!' like she wasn't the one who started this whole thing in the first place!" Xander exclaims, looking completely perplexed. "I don't understand. Are women _normally _like that?"

"Uh, no. Queen C's just fuckin' nuts, Xand. She probably finally cracked and has gone all schizo," Faith tells him, giving him a sympathetic look. Poor kid; first girl that's shown an interest in him and she's gotta be bat shit insane. She takes a breath though, not wanting to bring this up but knowing that she has to. "Ya know she isn't like… faithful to you, right?" she asks carefully.

Xander shrugs, trying to hide his disappointment. "I didn't really think she would be; she's not my girlfriend or anything. We're just… I don't what we're doing, honestly. I guess I'm just taking what I can get until she finds something better."

Faith's mouth drops open. "Do you fuckin' hear yourself, Xand? You don't deserve that shit. You need to get a girl who actually gives a crap about you; not some bitch that makes you her dirty little secret. I don't get why you allow yourself to be used like that."

"Probably for the same reason all of those women you sleep with allow themselves to be used by you," Xander replies softly, knowing that's going to hit a sore spot.

"_Ouch,_ dude."

"Sorry, but you know it's true," Xander tells her, shrugging lightly. "You use women and they allow you to because you're probably the hottest thing they're ever going to have."

Faith pauses, processing that statement. Finally she tells him, "I don't know whether to be insulted or complimented by that."

Xander laughs a little, shaking his head. "Be both? I don't know. It's still the truth regardless."

Faith shakes her head. "No. _No,_ dude. I mean yeah, probably with the bitches I sleep with, but you can do so much better than Cordy and you know it."

"Maybe I can get someone better, but I definitely can't get anyone hotter," Xander tells her honestly.

"Still think that's bullshit."

"Well that's because you're a good friend; you _have _to say that," Xander replies, chuckling a little. "Trust me, Faith; I know what kind of women I can get and what kind I can't. So Cordelia? She might be crazy, but I like being able to say that I made out with that. It kind of inflates my ego a little."

Faith smirks; she knows how that goes. Bragging rights always have to count for something. "Fine," she tells him. "I don't like it; ain't ever gonna like it, but you might as well at least _fuck _that to make it worth your while, all I'm sayin'."

Xander laughs. "Trust me, I'm trying."

**TBC…**


	33. The Codex

**CHAPTER THIRTY THREE  
****The Codex**

"So I hear you're a dyke now, Buffy; how's that working out for you? Has Faith given you herpes yet?"

Both Faith and Buffy stand up from the library table so fast that their chairs clatter to the ground. Faith nearly vaulted the damn table to go strangle Cordelia, but Giles stops her. "Cordelia, don't you have anywhere_ else_ you need to be?" Giles asks flatly, not sounding amused in the slightest from the verbal abuse being dealt towards his girls.

"Um, hello? This is _library;_ home of books, one of which is unfortunately what I need. Trust me, I'd rather not hang around with _you _freaks any longer than needed," Cordelia retorts, brushing her hair over her shoulder in a wave of self-importance.

"The next time a vampire tries to eat you, I'm so not stopping it," Buffy growls just as Faith shouts, "I swear to God if you speak to her again I'm gonna rip out your tongue and shove it up your ass, you two-bit skankfest! Fuckin' try me!" She tries to get to her again, but Giles tightens his grip on her t-shirt and pulls her back.

"Faith, stop," he tells her seriously. She relents for the time being, only because it's Giles, but she knows her patience isn't going to last very long.

"Aw, that's sweet Faith; stick up for your woman," Cordelia goads, looking amused by Faith's anger. "God knows she's the only one brain damaged enough to ever think you're worth something, so you wouldn't want to lose her too fast." She grabs the book she was looking for from the shelf and shoots her a sarcastic grin before she walks down the stairs to the desk.

"You know, if you were twice as smart, you'd still be fuckin' stupid, Cordelia. Check your birth certificate lately? That's the apology from the condom factory," Faith shoots back, wanting nothing more than to just go over there and beat her head in, but now Buffy's holding her back and she knows there's no way out of _her _grip.

"Faith, she's not even worth it…" Buffy tries.

"At least my family can afford condoms," Cordelia snaps, giving her the finger before she turns around and slams her book on the counter. "Uh, hello? Anyone going to check me out or do I have to stand here all day?"

"Just take the books," Giles tells her, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Keep them if you want; just get out of my library."

Cordelia scoffs. _"Rudeness."_ Faith wants to show her what the fuck rude really is but Buffy still won't let her go and within moments Cordelia's out the door.

"You shoulda just let me hit her, B!" Faith exclaims, whirling around once Buffy has actually let her go.

"And watch you get suspended again? No thanks. Besides she's…" she looks down, shrugging slightly as she slides back into her seat. "She's not exactly the only one saying stuff like that," she admits quietly.

"_Excuse _me?" Faith asks, hoping she didn't hear her correctly. People fucking with her, that's one thing. But fucking with Buffy? No, that's bullshit.

"Everyone knows, Faith," Buffy says quietly, playing with her hands a little self-consciously. "It's all over the school that I asked you to Homecoming. Don't you remember how people were when you first came here? It's not exactly unexpected…"

"So? Screw them, just because you wanna take a chick to the dance doesn't give them the fuckin' right to be cunts to you."

"Faith," Giles says quietly, knowing why she's using the word and understanding it, yet still obviously not approving of its use around him.

"Sorry, G; but they are. It's one thing for them to fuck with me, another to fuck with you, B."

Buffy looks up at her, giving her a sad smile as she reaches out to grasp her hand. "Thanks… for sticking up for me. But it's my problem, okay? I can handle it; you don't need to get involved. You get… well, you get _violent_ and you really can't have any more strikes against you in your record."

Faith lets out a breath and stays quiet for a moment. She knows she's right, but she doesn't have to like it. But she squeezes Buffy's hand a little in encouragement before she lets it go, sighing as she relents, "Fine. But I can't be held responsible for the shit I do when that crap's said in front of me. That's bullshit, B. You already got enough going on."

Buffy gives her a look of gratitude just as the bell rings. Faith groans; still three more hours left of school. The two of them get up to go to class but Giles stops them, "Faith? If you have a minute I'd like to speak to you privately."

Faith looks at him oddly, not sure why he'd need to talk to her, but she shrugs. "Yeah, s'cool. Not overly fond of History anyway."

"I'll see you after school," Buffy tells her with a shy smile before she turns and walks out of the library. Faith stares at her retreating form for what must have been a long time since Giles has to clear his throat to get her attention. Faith spins around.

"Sorry. What's up?"

"Perhaps you should sit down," Giles suggests. Faith doesn't like the sound of that, but does what she's told and takes a seat. "I, uh…" Giles starts, taking off his glasses for a moment to compulsively clean them with his handkerchief. "As… _wonderful _as it is seeing you take a real interest in someone for once, Faith; I feel that I should express my concerns about your attachment to Buffy."

"What?" Faith asks, laughing a little. "_What _attachment, G? We're just friends."

Giles sighs a little before he replaces his glasses on his nose. "Faith, I may be old, but I certainly am not blind. You two may not have a relationship per say, but I dare say it seems to be heading in that direction."

"I don't _do _relationships," Faith protests. Just because she's stopped pushing Buffy away from her, doesn't mean that's changed. It only means she knows there's more important shit to worry about right now; like the damn apocalypse. "Besides, even if I did, why are you suddenly getting all preachy at me about it? Thought you were on Team 'Faith-Needs-A-Relationship' like everyone else."

"I am, I just fear Buffy may not be the perfect match for you," Giles tells her softly.

"_Why?"_

"Because she is a _Slayer,_ Faith," he tells her seriously. "Her life expectancy has been drastically cut short and I don't wish to see you in pain if something was to ever happen to her."

Faith just stares at him for a minute. Something else is up; she can feel it. Giles has been watching their drama for a few months now and hasn't said a word about not wanting her to get involved, yet suddenly he's advocating for her to turn and run in the other direction? That doesn't sound like him; even if Buffy is the Slayer, he's always been on about how Faith needs to find love and fulfillment in her life.

Not that Buffy's gonna do that for her, but whatever. That's not the point right now.

"Giles, what the hell is really up?"

Giles looks uncomfortable at that question and turns his eyes downcast to his books as he shifts in his seat. "Nothing, Faith. I just wanted to make sure you weren't—"

"Cut the crap, G, and spill it. I ain't stupid; I know something's going on. You get all fidgety when you're hidin' something."

Giles sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. "I didn't want to alarm anyone…"

"The fuckin' apocalypse is knockin' at our door; pretty sure we're already alarmed," Faith tells him flatly.

"Yes, well," Giles continues, looking a little flustered and a lot like he didn't want to do this. He takes a breath, like he's mentally preparing himself to reveal something that's obviously hard for him. Finally he starts, "I was looking through The Codex last night and I… came upon a reference to the Master."

"'Kay, so what's the big deal? He got an undead legion of zombies under the earth with him or something?"

"No," Giles tell her before he swallows. It looks like it's painful for him to admit, but after a moment of stalling he finally spits it out, "It said that when Buffy faces the Master… she…" he takes a deep breath then finishes regrettably, "that she will die."

Faith stares at him for a moment, trying to take that information in but it was like her brain refused to process it. "Then you musta read it wrong," she tells him firmly, not about to believe something some stupid _book _says.

"I didn't."

"Well then the fuckin' _book _must be wrong!" Faith shouts, standing up and slamming her hands down on the table.

"This is The Codex – there is nothing in it that does not come to pass!" Giles exclaims, looking just as distraught as Faith _should_ feel right now, except she's refusing to believe it. "I wish to God I were wrong, but it's very plain. She will die, Faith… I'm sorry."

Faith shakes her head violently, "No. _No._ Giles, just because some fucking dusty old _book _says something, doesn't mean it's true, alright? So just _shut up_ about that shit!" She doesn't want him saying crap like that out loud, it's like he's jinxing it or something. Prophecies can kiss her ass; there's no way she's gonna let Buffy die. There's no way she's going to let _anyone_ die.

"I'm sorry," Giles apologizes again, knowing this is going to be hard for Faith to understand and accept. "I wish that we could do something—"

"We _can _do something! For shit's sake, Giles, you can't just give up on her cause some stupid ass book says to! What the fuck kind of Watcher _are you?"_ Faith shouts.

"I am not giving up on her!" Giles shouts, suddenly standing up to better make his point. "I don't wish this upon her any more than you do, Faith! And of course I will stand by her and I will _train _her but when the time comes for her to face him she has to do it alone!"

"Who says?" Faith exclaims. "Me and Kennedy are potential Slayers too, G; we're not gonna just fuck off and have a beer while Buffy does all the work!"

_"Then you will die too!"_ Giles shouts, trying to get that through her head and see the realism in it. But Faith can't see anything besides the fact that her friend might die; everything else is kind of irrelevant at this point.

Faith stares at him, seething for a moment. Finally she tells him, her voice dangerously calm, "Then I die. But at least I'll fuckin' die knowing that I didn't just sit on my ass waiting for the world to end." She turns to walk away, but Giles calls out to her.

"You must not tell her, Faith."

"Of course I won't fuckin' tell her; I'm not about to freak her out over something that ain't even gonna happen," Faith snaps without even turning around. And then with three angry strides she's out the door, knowing that the faith she had in the only father figure she's ever known was just destroyed.

* * *

As the week wore on, Faith tried twice as hard during training. Even when Buffy wanted to quit and take a break, Faith would continue to come at her and tell her that breaks were for pussies. She got taken down time and time again, but she didn't give up. Soon, she was able to hold her own against Buffy at least for a little while before she got smacked down. Still, Faith knew it wasn't enough. What could she really do against the Master? She didn't have the strength of a Slayer; she was just a kid. Right now it just seemed like they were all waiting to die and she hated that.

But life went on; Faith tried to pretend everything was going to be fine. She did finally get her Homecoming dress, this black little number that she looked fucking fabulous in. Problem was, her selling her mom's stash kicked her into some serious withdrawal. Caroline wasn't going to get her next paycheck until the end of the week and so for five days she went without anything at all. She could barely even get up in the mornings. She was angry at Faith of course; once she told her she was just trying to get a stupid dress for Homecoming Caroline said she should have come to her first instead of going behind her back. She said they could have worked something out. Faith knows that's bullshit, yet also knows her Mum would like to believe that she could have somehow scrounged up the money. She wouldn't have been able to though; both of them know that.

Faith felt bad about it, but there was nothing she could really do now. Besides, for once she should be able to do something for herself. She's always taking care of her mother and for one fucking night she'd actually like to be a normal kid for once. Is that too much to ask? Hell, they might all die soon; the least she could do is try to have some of those memories normal people have; school dances and whatnot.

Its two days before Homecoming and everyone is gathered in the library. Wesley and Giles have been arguing for the better part of twenty minutes whether The Anointed One had risen yet while Faith and Kennedy team up to try and take down Buffy together. They were failing of course, but at least not miserably.

After a little while, Buffy holds up her hand to indicate that they should stop. Faith doesn't like that plan though and tries to come at her again, only to end up flat on her back after connecting with just one hit. Buffy looks down at her, out of breath. "What is _with _you lately?" she asks, noting the determination on her friend's face.

Faith groans a little as she sits up, trying to ignore the pain that seems to be, well, _everywhere._ "Just tryin' to train," she tells her, attempting to hide the pain behind her voice as Buffy helps her to her feet.

"Well you need to take a minute to relax before you end up breaking something," Buffy tells her, though smiles a little bit from Faith's efforts. "Besides, Willow and I have an announcement." She grins.

"Oh!" Willow exclaims, looking up from her books, suddenly interested in their conversation. Faith furrows her eyebrows and looks over at her friend, wondering what the hell has them both so excited.

Faith watches Willow get up and hurry over to them as Buffy announces, "Since Homecoming is in two days, my Mom said I can have you guys sleep over tomorrow so we can have a girl's night before the big dance!"

Willow looks positively excited by this prospect; however Faith and Kennedy share a look of disdain at the thought of braiding each other's hair and doing their toenails.

"Hey!" Xander protests, looking up from his book now too. "Feeling a little left out over here."

"Sorry," Buffy apologizes, giving him a regrettable look. "But my mom won't let me have guys over, even if they're just a friend."

Xander looks disappointed, but Faith interrupts, "Uh, B? Not really the sleepover type." Faith can't even remember the last time she had a sleepover, if she's even had one at all.

"Oh, come on; it'll be fun!" Buffy presses, giving her a toothy grin. She then bats her eyelashes to try to seem endearing, "Pleaaasssee?"

Damn her.

"You all still can't _possibly_ be entertaining the idea that you will be able to go to Homecoming?" Giles asks, astounded once he actually gets wind of the conversation at hand.

"Uh, yeah?" Buffy replies, a little 'duh' attitude mixed in her words. "Come on Giles, we're allowed to have _some _fun!"

"Have you or have you not been listening to me?" Giles exclaims suddenly. "The two week mark – that falls on the night of your silly little dance!"

"We still aren't certain that's the night the Master will rise," Wesley interjects in his snooty little way. "All you've presented us with is _guesswork,_ Mr. Giles. Until we get solid facts—"

"You bloody well know we don't have_ time_ to sit around and wait for solid facts!" Giles bursts out, fuming in Wesley's general direction.

"I'm not saying we should allow them to go, of course," Wesley tells him, straightening his tweed to try show the illusion that he feels put together, even though Giles yelling at him tends to shake him up a little. "We should continue training as usual."

"What? No!" Buffy protests, starting to get angry. "Giles!"

"What the fuck, G," Faith interrupts, looking at her Watcher. "Even if the Master does rise and starts to lay smack down on all us, the least you can fuckin' do is let us try to have a little fun – especially if it might be the last fun thing we ever do!" She shoots him a pointed look and he knows exactly what she's referring to: Buffy. "So I say screw you guys and your Nazi boot camp; we're going. B?" she turns to look at her.

"We're going," she tells both of her Watchers flatly. "And since I'm twice as strong as both of you combined, you can try to stop me, but I doubt you'll get very far. And since that may be _my _last night on earth, I think I'm allowed to spend it the way I want until destiny needs me."

Faith can tell it frightens her; the prospect of her dying in only two days. Maybe it's the Slayer in her though, but Buffy has been suppressing it really fucking well – way better than Faith could if she was her. It could just be because she faces death every day and this is just another day at the ranch, but they both knew deep down it was more than that. Maybe Buffy just learned to accept her destiny, but what would Faith know? Buffy doesn't talk to her; at least not after she had her panic attack. It's like she's been trying to protect her from everything even though she's smack dab in the middle of it all. It sucks, but then again Faith's never been a real big talker; she probably wouldn't know what to do or say if Buffy suddenly started sharing what was going on in her mind.

Wesley looks miffed by Buffy's statement, but Giles sighs as he relents softly. "You're right. I'm sorry, Buffy."

Buffy looks like she wasn't expecting that. "I am?" she falters. "I mean, I am. Of course I am."

"You're not gonna die, B," Faith tells her softly, just needing to say that out loud. Buffy looks over at her before leaning in, whispering in her ear:

"I know I won't. But they need to believe that so we can go to the dance together."

Faith can't help but smirk at that. Hell, even when the odds are stacked high against her, Buffy still doesn't back down. Maybe they were both stupid in attempting to be so adamant about death not even being an option, but it was far better than the alternative. Before Buffy pulls back she gives her a soft kiss on the cheek, which Faith allows under the circumstances.

If they do all manage to get out of this unscathed though, Faith's going to have to figure out what to do about all this, and fast. She's not a relationship person, she just isn't, and she knows she's gonna end up smashing Buffy's heart to little fucking pieces if she even tries. She likes her, okay? She does; she's not stupid and she's not denying it anymore.

But sometimes that just isn't enough… right?

**TBC…**


	34. The Sleepover

**CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR  
****The Sleepover**

Once Buffy has her mind set on something, it's hard to persuade her otherwise. Faith isn't overly excited about the sleepover idea, yet she still finds herself outside of Buffy's house at seven o'clock whether she wanted to be there or not. She wasn't much into gossiping, doing each other's nails, or whatever it was that chicks did during these types of things, but it couldn't kill her to try to be an actual girl for once, right?

Those words are probably gonna come back to bite her in the ass.

"How long have you been standing out here?"

Faith turns around to see Kennedy trudge up the walkway behind her, smirking at Faith's complete lack of moving. She shrugs in response. "Not long. Just… kinda weird; never met B's folks before. And it ain't like I'm thrilled to be wearin' footie pajamas and talk about boys."

"Is that part of the deal?" Kennedy asks, a look of mock horror settling in over her features. "Because I'm about two seconds from making a run for it if that's what's going on."

Faith smirks, but doesn't comment on that. Instead she asks, "You ever been to a sleepover?"

"You haven't?" Kennedy asks, honestly surprised. Once Faith shakes her head Kennedy tells her, "They aren't all bad. The best ones usually involve liquor and spin the bottle though." She smirks, remembering. "You have no idea how many girls I can confuse in the span of a night. Good times."

"Wish I coulda brought some booze then, but I'm kinda on lock-down at the moment," Faith replies, sneering a little at the thought. Off of Kennedy's confused look she explains. "My Mum is… well, actually trying to be a Mum for once. Probably just some kinda phase, but until then I'm fucked."

"Bummer," Kennedy says, but then a small smirk creeps across her features. "Guess it's a good thing I have us taken care of then," she tells her with a grin as she pats her overnight bag. Faith's grin matches Kennedy's in a split second.

"Wicked," she approves. "Your parents?"

"Won't even know it's missing," Kennedy finishes with a sly grin.

"Well let's get this party started then," Faith replies, much more into this whole sleepover deal now that booze were involved. She's been deprived of the pleasure for this whole past week.

She turns and heads up the walkway to Buffy's house, Kennedy in tow behind her. It's weird, being outside of Buffy's house. Faith never really pictured it to be so… _suburban._ But the grass is freshly mowed, there's a few flowers surrounding the porch, and there's even a damn 'welcome' mat outside the door. It made her kinda freaked out that Buffy's Mom was gonna take one look at her and tell she's bad news; be all 'stay away from my daughter', or whatever. Parents always think that she's trying to corrupt their children. Willow's mom damn near had a heart attack when she first saw her.

Faith hesitates ringing the doorbell, still trying to swallow her irrational nervousness, but thankfully Kennedy takes the initiative to instead. "Pussy," she chuckles, to which Faith responds with her middle finger. She has to put it down quickly though once the door's opened.

"Buffy!" some kid that can't be more than twelve shrieks after she's opened the door. "Some more of your _weirdo_ friends are here!"

"Shut up, Dawn!" comes Buffy's voice from inside the house. Both Faith and Kennedy share a look; Buffy never mentioned she had a little sister.

The kid, Dawn, gives Buffy a bratty look before she scampers off to do God only knows what kids do these days as Faith sees Buffy come down the stairs. "You guys can come in, you know," she tells them, since they're both still standing out on the porch like a couple of weirdos.

Maybe the kid was right about them.

"You didn't say you had a sister," Faith replies as she steps into Buffy's house, looking around. It's so… _clean._

"Yeah well, I like to pretend I don't," Buffy tells her, rolling her eyes a little. "She doesn't exactly light up my life, as you can tell." She smiles at them though as she goes on, "But come on upstairs; Willow and Tara are already here."

"Buffy?" comes a voice from the dining room before an older woman appears, presumably Buffy's mother. She gives a warm smile as she sees the two guests and asks Buffy, "More friends?"

"Yeah, sorry. Mom, these are my friends Faith and Kennedy. Guys, this is my Mom, Joyce."

"Faith," Joyce greets, making Faith instantly feel weird just because of how _nice _she says her name. She's not used to many parents greeting her with a smile. "I was wondering when we'd get to finally meet you; Buffy talks about you all the time."

"She does?" Faith asks, astounded that someone would actually take the initiative to tell their _parents _about her. She's not exactly something to brag about.

"_Mom!"_ Buffy protests, embarrassed. "I do _not."_

Joyce looks amused at her daughter's embarrassment, but doesn't push it. "Well you girls have fun. I have cookies baking in the oven; I'll let you know when they're ready."

"Great thanks, _bye,"_ Buffy stresses, her cheeks still adorning a slight blush as she grabs Faith's hand, practically manhandling her up the stairs. "Let's go."

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs. S!" Faith calls out as she's dragged up a flight of stairs, Kennedy laughing behind her at Buffy's mortification and Faith's obvious discomfort.

Even when they get to the top of the stairs, Buffy's still pulling her like she's training to be the damn Tug of War Champion. "B!" Faith protests, feeling a little like a rag doll. "Quit before ya end up pullin' off my damn arm."

"What? Oh, sorry," Buffy apologizes once she realizes what she's doing. She lets Faith go and blushes a little. Kennedy is still cracking up and she shoots her a glare. "Shut up."

"Didn't say anything," Kennedy replies though her chuckling. Buffy just huffs before she heads into her room, both of her guests following behind her.

Buffy's room was… well, fuckin' girly. Not that Faith expected anything different but it was like walking into some kind of alternate dimension with all the frills and stuffed animals on the shelves. Willow and Tara were sitting on the floor and they both smiled and greeted them as they came in. Buffy crosses the room to sit on her bed and Faith stands there awkwardly for a moment, not knowing where the heck she's supposed to sit. That is until Buffy says, "Faith, come over here," and pats the seat next to her on the bed.

Great.

Not that the bed ain't more comfortable than the floor cause hell, it is, but being on Buffy's bed with her is only gonna end up leading to bad thoughts; even there being a bunch of people over won't slow down her perversion. So Faith ends up saying, "Nah, it's cool; just sit on the floor like everyone else," as she takes a seat on the rug. Buffy makes a little grumpy face before she slides off her bed, sitting between Faith and Kennedy on the floor instead.

"I brought party favors," Kennedy exclaims suddenly, digging through her overnight bag and pulling out a bottle of… Patrón. Wicked. Faith makes a grab for the bottle, but Buffy uses one hand to push her back, keeping it out of her reach.

"Kennedy, my _mom's _home!" she protests.

"So?" Kennedy asks, not seeing the big deal.

"So she'll kill me if she finds out we're drinking up here!"

"Aw, come on, B; lighten up. Hell, we might all bite the big one tomorrow; might as well have one more night of drunken stupidity."

"We're not going to _die,_ Faith," Buffy protests, narrowing her eyes at her. "So I'd appreciate it if you stopped trying to jinx it."

"Not tryin' to jinx it, just tryin' to persuade ya into drinkin'," Faith replies, smirking. Buffy rolls her eyes and pushes her back with one hand.

"B-Buffy's right," Willow stammers a little, looking up at Faith. "We shouldn't drink when her mother's home."

"The fun is getting sucked right out of this room," Kennedy mumbles. Tara puts a hand on her knee comfortingly.

"Well what the hell are we supposed to do at a sleepover if we ain't gonna drink?" Faith complains, looking the bottle of tequila longingly.

"What normal people do during sleepovers Faith," Buffy tells her; she almost sounds like she's chiding her for fuck's sake. "Do each other's hair and talk about… well normally I'd say boys, but I think the majority of us here like girls."

"The cheese stands alone," Willow replies, sounding a little left out from the lesbian-fest. Faith laughs.

"Nah, Tara here's bisexual," Kennedy says, nudging her friend with her arm. Tara ducks her head down, hiding behind her hair.

"You are?" Willow asks. "You didn't tell me that."

"Well, she's only had one boyfriend; but ya liked him, right?" Kennedy asks, prodding Tara to open up a little. Tara nods as she answers.

"H-He… w-well, he was… sweet."

"See? So you aren't alone, Willow."

"And I've had boyfriends!" Buffy pipes up, which prompts Faith to roll her eyes and make a gagging sound. Buffy giggles but pushes her again, which makes Faith retaliate with a push of her own.

"Don't make me kick your ass, B!"

"I'd like to see you try, _F,"_ Buffy replies with a giggle as they continue to shove each other like immature toddlers.

"G-Guys… last time you did this you nearly broke Faith's room," Willow points out, watching the two of them getting into it again. They were just joking around but then again, they were last time too. Faith pushes Buffy back again, making the blonde retaliate by basically _jumping _on her, pinning her hands behind her back.

"And Buffy lost me ten bucks," Kennedy remembers, frowning.

"This Slayer strength ain't fair," Faith complains, trying to wiggle out of Buffy's grasp yet failing miserably. After a minute she gives up with a heavy sigh. "Fuckin' hate you." Buffy giggles, but lets her go, knowing that's Faith's way of saying she won.

There's a knock on the door then and Buffy and Faith attempt to establish distance between them when Joyce peeks her head into the room. "Buffy, I just got a call from the gallery; they need me to come in for a couple hours. Can you watch Dawn?"

Buffy groans in response. "Mom, she's twelve; she doesn't need a babysitter. I was babysitting _her _when I was twelve!"

"I didn't mean watch her like a hawk, Buffy," Joyce tells her patiently. "But please make sure she doesn't get into any trouble."

Buffy rolls her eyes. "Fine, but she's not invited to my slumber party!" Joyce gives her an amused, but patient look. Sibling rivalry seemed to run rampant between those two.

"The cookies are out of the oven, you girls can help yourselves. I'll be back in a couple hours; please don't burn the house down while I'm gone." She gives them all a motherly smile before she slips from the room, heading back down the hall.

Faith immediately reaches for the tequila bottle. "Score!"

"Faith!" Buffy protests.

"What, B? You said that we couldn't drink while your Mum's here and she's leavin'." She grins wickedly at her as she pops the cork off the bottle. "Got any shot glasses?"

"_No."_

"Well fuck it then; we'll improvise. Ken?" she looks over at Kennedy, who has a grin from ear to ear.

"Body shots?" she asks hopefully.

"Body shots," Faith confirms as she holds up the bottle victoriously. "Come on, lay down."

"Faith!" Buffy protests, watching Kennedy lay down on her back and hike up her shirt as Faith makes her way over to her. "You are _not _going to do body shots in my house!"

"Chill, B; we're finally havin' some fun," she tells her as she pours some liquid into Kennedy's exposed navel.

"You're getting it all over my rug!"

"Well if Ken would quit wigglin' we wouldn't be having that issue," Faith retorts, just before she leans down, trailing her tongue over Kennedy's lightly tanned flesh. She can hear Buffy huff behind her before she wraps her mouth around Kennedy's navel, sucking the liquor into her mouth. Yeah, and _that_ is how you do shots of tequila, bitches.

"Okay, no. This is like the start of a bad porn movie," Buffy protests, standing up. "I'm getting glasses before this turns into some kind of awkward orgy." She trudges out of the room, giving into the drinking idea since she knows she can't stop it anyway.

Faith laughs but once she looks up, Willow is shooting her a dirty look. "What?" she asks.

"Y-You know what," Willow answers, her eyes shifting over to look at Kennedy who's pulling her shirt back down. Faith rolls her eyes; it wasn't like she was mackin' on her or anything. Jeez.

When Buffy comes back, she's actually holding shot glasses. "Thought ya said you didn't have any," Faith says as Buffy hands her one.

"I don't, but apparently my Mom does." She settles down back next to Faith and sighs, "God, she's going to _kill _me if she finds out about this."

"Then don't tell her," Faith replies simply before she starts pouring everyone their shots.

It didn't take long for them to be on the right side of drunk and soon they were all laughing and having a good time. They started playing 'I never,' which turned into something vastly inappropriate once they all let their inhibitions go right out the window. But hey, that's how Faith likes it.

"I've never had anal sex," Kennedy says when it's her turn. Faith's the only one that takes a shot.

"Ew, really?" Buffy squeals, nearly toppling over as she giggles. "That's so gross, Faith."

"Don't knock it till ya tried it, Princess," Faith replies with a flirty wink, which makes Buffy blush from head to toe.

"I-I've never kissed a girl," Willow says next, which makes everyone else in the room take another shot.

"I'll kiss you," Kennedy offers with a smirk. "You know, so you don't feel left out or anything." Willow flushes red and looks down at the carpet.

Faith rolls her eyes and pushes Kennedy with one hand. She nearly falls over. "Back off, Ken. Red's straight." Kennedy grumbles, but leaves it.

"I've never hid my feelings from someone I liked," Buffy says, shooting a pointed look at Faith. Off of her glare, Buffy merely smiles at her innocently.

"Low blow, B," Faith replies, but relents and takes her shot. That is the game after all. It's surprising though when Tara takes another shot as well.

"Ohh, and the plot thickens," Kennedy says, smirking as Tara attempts to hide behind her hair again. "I feel so left out of the gossip, Tara. I'm hurt." She mockingly pouts as Tara stammers.

"I-I-It's n-nothing…"

"Lies, but I'll get it out of you later," Kennedy replies, sure of herself.

"I've never hid who I am," Faith says, now shooting a pointed look at Buffy.

"Okay, that's not fair; I'm the Slayer, I have to!" Buffy protests, but she does take her shot. She makes a 'blech' face afterwards, but sucks it up rather quickly. Faith laughs.

"Payback is a bitch," Faith replies before she stands up and announces: "I need to take a wiz, I'll be back."

"Charming, Faith," Buffy responds dryly, which prompts Faith to smirk at her before she heads out of Buffy's room and into the bathroom across the hall.

Once she's finished and is washing her hands, she turns as she hears the bathroom door click as it opens. "Wicked perverted, B," Faith teases as she sees Buffy walk in, closing the door softly behind her. "I coulda still been peein'."

"You're not," Buffy replies as she watches Faith dry her hands on the towel hanging from the rack. Faith catches her gaze in the mirror and furrows her eyebrows; Buffy's looking at her with some serious intent in her eyes.

"What's up?" Faith tries to ask casually, but it's pretty pointless seeing as she finds out in two seconds once Buffy presses her up against the bathroom counter. Faith's hand flies to the marble, her fingers curling around it as the blonde's lips connect with hers, her hand sliding through her dark tresses.

Faith can taste the tang of the tequila on Buffy's lips and feels the insistence behind her already ragged breathing and okay… this doesn't suck. Besides, until after the Master gets the smack down, Faith did consent to let anything that happens happen. Fuck it, right? End of the world at their doorstep, might as well have a bit of fun before the sky rains fire and shit. So she grabs Buffy's hips and pulls her closer, milking a soft moan from Buffy's lips that drove her fucking wild.

Buffy's drunk kisses are a little bit sloppy, but Faith finds she doesn't care much as the familiar fire in the pit of her stomach begins to burn hot with need. She groans against Buffy's lips and slides a hand down to her ass, cupping it roughly and making the blonde squeak out in surprise against her lips. Faith chuckles softly as Buffy retaliates by nibbling on her bottom lip before her tongue plunges back into her mouth like she's trying to consume everything that Faith is.

Faith knows she should be a good girl, but she can't help but push the line to see how far she can go. She expects Buffy's surprised exclamation of "Faith!" as she suddenly drops to her knees in front of her, but once she starts placing hot, open mouth kisses against Buffy's abdomen, her protests die in her throat and she slides her fingers through Faith's hair, tightening her grip. Buffy closes her eyes and lets out a soft whimper as Faith dips her tongue into her navel, which is quickly followed by Faith nibbling slightly on the tiny bit of baby fat that surrounds it. Buffy tasted sweeter than candy.

Faith's lips travel further upwards, her nails leaving light scratches in their wake as she slowly pushes up Buffy's shirt, kissing every inch of her skin she can reach. She knows it's a longshot but once she notices Buffy's not wearing a bra underneath her pajama top she pushes it all the way up, wrapping her mouth around an erect nipple. Buffy's gasp quickly turns into a moan and her fingers tighten in Faith's hair, nearly pulling it out of her head as Faith takes that moment to graze her teeth softly against her hardened nub, teasing her.

But once Buffy comes to her senses about what the heck is actually going on, she pushes Faith off of her lightly. "Faith," she tells her breathlessly, flushing a little as she fixes her shirt. "We can't…"

"Only second base, B," Faith mutters against her skin, not deterred as she decides to kiss Buffy's neck instead. Buffy bites on her bottom lip softly for a moment as she allows it, but then lightly pushes her off of her again.

"I know, it's just… I have other people over; we can't spend all night locked in here. It's rude."

"Not too concerned about bein' rude."

"Well I am, they're _my_ guests," Buffy points out. Faith rolls her eyes and Buffy leans in, giving her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry," she whispers against her lips. "You know I want nothing more than to stay here and make out with you all night."

"Should just kick them out," Faith suggests, smirking a little at Buffy's look of mock horror.

"I can't do that!"

"Sure ya can, it's easy. You say: sorry guys but Faith needs to slide into second tonight, so get to steppin'." Faith smirks as she admits, "Though I'll probably try to steal third while I'm at it." Buffy swats her on the arm lightly.

"Stop," she tells her, blushing a little. "We've had this discussion."

"Yeah, yeah; relationship first. Frankly, I dunno how you ever manage to get laid," Faith tells her as she opens the bathroom door, heading into Buffy's room. She can hear her scoff in offense behind her and she smirks.

That is the problem though; Buffy wanting a relationship first. But that's not Faith's problem _now _so she ignores the little voice in the back of her head telling her that she's only complicating shit so much worse. Whatever, Buffy ain't complaining so why the hell should she be? In a way, this kind of makes for a pretty sweet arrangement; she can stick her tongue down Buffy's throat whenever she wants but can still go and fuck other people. Who _wouldn't _want that? Still, the fact that Buffy's still sporting that annoying lesbian chastity belt is frustrating. More than frustrating, actually, seeing as now Faith's whole body is aching to just shove her against a wall and fuck her brains out.

Which is never gonna happen.

Once Faith steps into the room, her forearm is grabbed by Kennedy. "We're going to go get some cookies," she tells Buffy.

"We are? When did I become part of this plan?" Faith asks, feeling a little overwhelmed from all the damn manhandling these women are doing to her today.

"You're always hungry," Kennedy answers.

Point.

"Fine, cookies sound good. Anyone else gonna kick it with us gettin' fat in the kitchen?" A chorus of no's fill Faith's ears and she shrugs. "Whatever, your loss," she tells them before Kennedy is practically dragging her down the hall.

"Okay, enough with the freakin' pulling!" Faith exclaims, wrenching her arm from Kennedy's grasp. "I swear you all think I'm some kinda rag doll, _shit."_ Kennedy laughs and takes the stairs two at a time, bounding into the kitchen. Faith follows.

When they reach their destination Buffy's little sister is already down there, taking advantage of the cookie situation too. "Sup, Half Pint," Faith greets. The girl narrows her eyes at the nickname and swallows her cookie.

"I have a _name,"_ she responds in a bratty attitude.

"Right. Dawn, yeah?" Faith asks as she slides onto one of the stools situated at the island counter. She looks over at Kennedy, who throws her a cookie. Faith catches it easily.

"Who are you?" the kid, Dawn, asks. "You're not another one of her cheerleader friends are you? Because I don't like them."

Faith snorts. "Do I look like a cheerleader to you, kid?" She takes a bite of her cookie as she swoops he hands down her form, making her point.

Dawn eyes her up, but seems to come to the conclusion that no, Faith is definitely not a cheerleader. "What are you then?" she asks.

"Last I checked I was a human being. What about you?"

Kennedy sniggers.

"Ha, ha," Dawn replies, rolling her eyes. "I meant what team are you on? Isn't everyone in high school on a team? That's what my friend Michelle said."

"I bat for the other team," Faith replies, sharing an amused look with Kennedy. Hey, it's true at least; ain't like she's jerking the kid around_ too_ bad.

"Do you play baseball?" Dawn asks, trying to understand.

"No."

Kennedy's trying not to die of laughter and almost chokes on a cookie. Faith smirks and breaks off a piece of hers to throw it at her as Dawn looks at both of them suspiciously.

"You guys are weird," she informs them before she slips off her stool and retreats into the living room. Kennedy collapses into a fit of giggles.

"That was fucking priceless," she told Faith, taking a breath to try to get her laugher under control so she doesn't end up choking again. Faith chuckles.

"It was too easy – not my fault."

Kennedy smirks as she leans against the kitchen counter in a way that practically shoved her breasts into Faith's line of sight. When Faith cocks an eyebrow at her, Kennedy responds by seductively licking her lower lip. Faith laughs a little at that; she can't help it.

"Subtle, Ken," she teases. She knows that look in her friend's eye: she wants to fuck. "But we're in B's house."

"She isn't going to find out," Kennedy presses, shooting her a naughty little grin.

"This is her _house."_

"So? We can go out in her backyard; she won't see us, I promise," Kennedy pushes, coming over to her and wrapping her arms around her torso from behind. She presses her lips to Faith's ear and whispers throatily, "All this liquor though… it's making me miss the taste of you. I want you to fuck my face, Faith… and then after you cum I promise we can come right back in like nothing happened. You don't even have to reciprocate."

Faith would like to think that she has enough morals to say no to that, but the sad fact is… she doesn't. Buffy already got her wound up in the bathroom, she's horny like fuck, and more than slightly intoxicated. Honestly on a scale of one to stupid right now, Faith's ranking pretty damn high in the unintelligence column. But come on… who can resist an offer like _that?_ None of the work and all of the glory; sounds like a day at the friggin' beach for her.

"You got five minutes," Faith tells her as she gets up, grabbing Kennedy's hand and pulling her towards the back door. She glances behind her out of a brief moment of paranoia but when she doesn't see anyone she walks out onto the back porch, hoping to hell that Kennedy can make this quick.

"Five minutes is all I need," Kennedy breathes as she pushes Faith up against the side paneling of the house, kissing her briefly, yet passionately as her hands tug on Faith's leathers. Her lips leave hers as soon as she figures out how to get Faith's pants down (surprisingly leather pants seems to perplex the majority of Faith's lovers) and she drops to her knees, wasting no time in wrapping her mouth around Faith's wanton sex.

Faith stifles a moan, biting it back as she closes her eyes; she doesn't want to be loud… just in case. She's more than aware that she's doing a really shitty thing; but at the same time, a girl's gotta get off somehow. Still, she probably should have waited till she was out of Buffy's house, but goddamnit that'd mean a full night of uncomfortable squirming and little to no sleep. That doesn't exactly equal 'fun' in her book.

Faith's already horny so it doesn't take long for Kennedy to get her right to the edge. Faith will say one thing about the girl: she _does_ know how to eat some pussy. She does this little vibrating thing with her tongue ring that gets Faith's clit throbbing in a matter of seconds. She grasps Kennedy's hair, holding her down there as she presses her hips further into her face. Faith's breathing is labored, her nipples are standing at attention, and she knows she's about to fucking explode in two seconds so she grunts, trying to be as quiet as humanely possible, "More."

Kennedy takes her clit between her teeth and runs her tongue flat against it before flicking it back and forth quickly, which makes Faith have to stifle another moan as she feels her walls begin to pulsate inside of her. "Fuck," she breathes, practically shoving Kennedy's face halfway up her cunt as she begins to come, biting on her lower lip so hard that she's probably bleeding. But fuck it, she needed to stay quiet. And god_damn _did she need that.

When Faith opens her eyes, she half expects Buffy to be standing in the backyard. She breathes a sigh of relief when she doesn't see her, but that ends quickly once she turns to look at the door. Faith nearly jumps out of her fucking skin when she sees Buffy standing there, arms wrapped around herself like she's trying to keep herself together. Her jaw is locked and she looks halfway between upset and _furious._

Oh god, how long has she been standing there?

"Get out," Buffy tells her flatly. Her voice is oddly calm for the expression on her face. A tear slowly falls down her cheek but she doesn't act like she's even aware that she's crying. She's probably too pissed to care about any other emotion she may be having right now.

"Oh, shit," Kennedy says as she scrambles to her feet, finally taking notice that they weren't alone. Faith frantically pulls up her pants, torn between trying to smooth this over with Buffy and decking Kennedy in the fucking face because she promised Buffy wouldn't catch them.

She chooses to attempt to deal with Buffy. "B…" she tries, about to spew out a bunch of apologizes that she knows won't make any difference, but she's interrupted.

"Get out before I beat you within an inch of your life."

Oh shit. The look on Buffy's face says she's not kidding and as sorry as Faith is, she's not about to forfeit her life over it. Fuck, this is gonna end up being one of those stories she tells in her AA meetings years from now; another 'how I fucked everything up' story.

"Buffy, we're so sorry," Kennedy tries, actually looking like she feels a little bad for throwing that in her face like that. "We didn't think that you'd—"

"You too," Buffy tells her, voice dangerously calm. "And I swear to God if I see either of you on my property again, I'll kill you." She walks inside and slams the door on their faces then, leaving them locked outside.

Kennedy sighs, running her fingers through her hair. "Jeez, melodramatic much?" she mumbles. Faith's eyes flash and she pushes Kennedy up against the porch railing hard. The younger girl cries out in pain, then a look of anger crosses over her face. She doesn't retaliate though; she knows that'd be a stupid move.

"Just shut the _fuck_ up, Kennedy," is all Faith offers her before she storms off, hating the goddamn world.

Why she was made with decision making capabilities, she'll never know. Obviously she can never make any fucking good ones.

**TBC…**


	35. Homecoming

**CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE  
****Homecoming**

Faith knows she's pushing it once she shows up in front of Buffy's house to pick her up for the dance. In her defense though, Kennedy's parents rented them all a limo and she'd be a fucking idiot if she didn't take advantage of that; this will probably be the one and only time in her life that she'll be able to ride in one.

She's not alone though, thankfully. Xander, Kennedy, Tara, and Willow are already in the limo and have been urging Faith not to be stupid and try to _greet_ Buffy when she comes out, but Faith hasn't exactly been the queen of smart decisions lately. So she's standing on Buffy's walkway, waiting for her to emerge from her house. She knows she's running the risk of being decked in the face, but she still needs to try anyway; she feels fucking horrible about what happened.

Sure, Faith is still under the belief that she should be able to fuck whoever she wants, but there's a huge difference in doing it and doing it in _front _of Buffy. Not that she meant for Buffy to see it, but still; she knew the risks. Regardless of her intentions, it was still really cruel and she wishes she could have listened to her brain over her pussy for once, but she doesn't have high hopes that that will ever happen. She's just a fuck up; she's known that her whole life and she's been _trying _to tell Buffy that, but she hasn't listened. Problem is, maybe she finally is listening and Faith isn't exactly sure how she feels about that. She should feel relieved but she doesn't, she just feels like an ass; an ass who feels sorry for themself.

But she made her bed; she can either lie in it or try to make things better. Faith chose the latter.

When Buffy emerges from her house, Faith has to remind herself to keep breathing. Buffy is beautiful normally, but in that white dress? God, she was fucking _stunning._ Faith's never been one to trip over her tongue around a girl, but at the moment it feels like it's tangled around her feet. Once Buffy sees her though she literally grinds to a halt, her face becoming stone cold.

"Faith, just back away slowly," Xander hisses at her from inside the limo. She doesn't listen, of course.

"Got ya this," Faith says quietly, holding out a long stemmed rose towards her. She's never been the romantic type, but she figured flowers might do her some good in getting maybe a _little_ bit of forgiveness. She could only afford one, so right now she's praying that one is as good as six or twelve.

Buffy stares at the rose for a moment, face expressionless. Finally she reaches out for it and Faith thinks that maybe, just fucking _maybe_ everything isn't complete shit, but that delusion shatters once Buffy crushes the petals in her fist before throwing the flower to the ground. She says nothing.

"Uh," Faith stumbles for a second, not expecting the silence. She was prepared for being yelled at, for being punched in the face, but she wasn't prepared for Buffy to do or say nothing. So she tries plan B. "Okay, so roses are out," she says, knowing she sounds incredibly nervous and hating every damn second of it. She hands Buffy the small box in her hand and tells her, "Luckily the corsage I got you doesn't have roses; it's white lilies… since I remembered you sayin' you were gonna wear white and all."

"Keep it," Buffy tells her, voice dangerously even. "You're not my date anymore." She brushes past Faith to climb into the limo and the brunette just stands there for a second, sighing heavily. Well, ain't like she wasn't expecting that. She knew it'd be a long shot if Buffy still wanted to go with her, but she couldn't help but try anyway.

Once they got to the dance (after a very tense ride in the limo), Buffy immediately attached herself to Willow and Tara, who seem to be on the same side as her after everything that went down. Kennedy stormed off, pissed that even her best friend wouldn't talk to her, and Faith hung back with Xander, not having the slightest fucking clue about what to do.

"You're an idiot, you know," he tells her finally, once they've situated themselves near the very nonalcoholic punchbowl with the rest of the losers.

"Thanks, Xand," she replies dryly before taking a sip of her punch. She wishes she had vodka.

Xander sighs. "Faith, I've heard about your womanly conquests for over a year now, but not once have I ever seen you this hung up on a girl. Do you think maybe that means something?"

"Yeah, it means I shouldn't try to get involved with bitches for more than a night. It fucks up the natural order of shit." She stares at the empty cup in her hand before she crushes it, throwing it to the floor.

"When have you ever _tried_ to get involved with her?" Xander contradicts, making a valid point. "You've been pushing her away like she's carrying the disease that's going to start the next zombie apocalypse."

"Don't talk about apocalypses," Faith groans, remembering tonight could very well be the night. She hopes it's bullshit and seeing as nothing weird has gone down yet it probably is, but still. "Where's G anyway? Didn't he say he was gonna chaperone this shit just in case the Master like, I dunno, fuckin' flies out of the sky and tries to kill us all?"

"He's probably around somewhere, Miss Change-The-Subject."

"Whatever," Faith retorts, knowing that isn't the most mature response in the world but not caring in the slightest.

Her eyes land on this little nerd boy that's been staring at her for the better half of ten minutes and getting fed up, she asks, "_What?_ You need a fuckin' picture or something or is the image of me you're gonna jack off to later clear enough in your mind?"

The boy flushes about ten shades of red and scampers off and Xander looks like he's trying not to laugh. "That was mean," he tells her, yet still looks amused by it nonetheless.

"The kid was fuckin' staring at me; creepin' me out, man."

"Look, maybe you should just try to talk to her," Xander suggests, getting back on topic. Faith's face darkens at that suggestion. "I mean, she won't hit you in a gym full of people, right?"

"Wouldn't be too sure about that," Faith mumbles.

"Just _go,"_ Xander tells her, sounding tired of repeating himself. "You know you're gonna regret it if you don't fix things between the two of you."

"And how can I fix it, Xand? I mean _really?_ She fuckin' walked in on me getting fucked by another chick!" Faith exclaims, angry. That shit doesn't magically fix itself, even if she'd like it to.

"Well, I knew _that_ lesbian love-fest wouldn't last long." Faith and Xander turn to see Cordelia pouring herself a glass of punch on the opposite side of the table. "Xander, I need to speak with you," she says, completely ignoring the death glare Faith's giving her. Her voice is hushed and she's looking around like she's hoping no one's overhearing her speak to them.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something, Cordelia," Xander tells her flatly.

"So? I'm more important."

"Bitch, unless you start hiking up that skirt of yours and spreadin' your legs, really don't think Xander's gonna give much of a fuck," Faith tells her harshly. "Your tongue can only do so much before it's required to be wrapped around his dick."

"Xander!" Cordelia exclaims, looking incredibly offended for the first time in like… ever. Usually the bitch can take as much as she can dish out, but sex seems to be a sore spot with her. Faith's starting to wonder if she's a virgin, which would be _so _fucking laughable. "Are you going to let her talk to me like that?"

"You're not his girlfriend so I'm thinkin'… _yeah."_

"Just… give us a minute, okay?" Xander requests, looking embarrassed by Faith's comments. "Please, Cordy?"

Faith's never seen Cordelia look hurt until that moment. But she tries to suppress it as much as she can and replace it with her bitch attitude. "Whatever, I don't even know why I bother trying to talk to _losers._ I'm all for good deeds, but this is too far." She storms off, making Xander look torn between going after her and staying here to deal with Faith.

Faith notices this and asks, "What the hell is up with her? Thought you said she's jerking you around, so why would she care?"

"I… don't know," Xander admits, looking a little perplexed. "She's been acting weird ever since that football player died. _Weirder,_ I should say."

Ah, the football player she was cheating on Xander with. Well, not cheating since they ain't actually together… but regardless. The one she was being a fucking whore with.

"Weirder _how?"_

Xander shrugs, looking a little embarrassed. "She's… talking to me." He fidgets a little, his eyes shifting to look over at Cordelia in the distance.

"And this is news how? Unfortunately she has a mouth; bitch talks to me and I wish she didn't."

"No, she's… _talking_ to me," Xander reiterates, trying to make her understand. "Like about stuff that's going on in her life. Granted she's still hiding me in closets and stuff, but I think… maybe she's starting to trust me?" He looks perplexed by that conclusion.

"That's fucking weird, dude."

"You're telling me."

While Xander's off staring into the distance at Cordelia, Faith can't help but let her eyes wander until they land on Buffy. She looks like she's trying to force herself to have fun to appease Willow and Tara who are advocating it, but Faith can read the pain all over her face. It makes her feel sick because she knows she's the one that caused it. Normally she couldn't care less, if it was any other bitch she'd ignore it and move on, but for some reason she just… _can't_ with Buffy. Why the fuck does she_ care_ so much? Why her? Out of everyone in this world why did it have to be _her?_

She wasn't ready for this. But then again, if this happened when she was twenty five, would she have been ready for it then? She's lived this specific lifestyle for so long that it just… freaks her out when someone comes along and upsets it. Faith's not exactly a control freak, but she does like to have some things in her life stay the same for her own peace of mind.

See what happens when her peace of mind is fucked with? Someone always gets hurt.

Problem is, Faith knows it's not just Buffy that's hurt; she's hurting too. Which is so _fucked _to admit but there it is, in black and white: Faith's hurt. She's spent so long pretending she doesn't have feelings that when she realizes that she might actually be a human being it kind of fucks her sideways. Not that Faith wants to _date_ her or anything, she's still firmly on that side of the fence but… shit, she has no idea what she wants. She just wants her to be _around._ Can't that be enough?

Probably not, but Faith's stubborn anyway.

"I'm gonna go be suicidal," she tells Xander, which seems to throw him from his stare-longingly-at-Cordelia daze. He looks confused but Faith doesn't reiterate, she just walks away, heading towards Buffy.

She has no idea why she's doing this. She's _so _gonna get punched in the face. But fuck it, right? Probably what she deserves and until Buffy gets her anger out, ain't like they can move forward; if they can even move past this at all.

Buffy stiffens once she realizes Faith's coming over to her. She keeps constant eye contact with her though, almost like she's trying to flay her alive on the spot. It makes Faith feel a little uneasy.

"Hey," the brunette greets softly. She has the intense urge to shove her hands in her pockets but unfortunately the damn dress she's wearing_ has_ no pockets so the end result is her doing some weird ass things with her hands before she decides to keep them contained behind her back. "Uh, do you want to dance?" She has no idea why she just said that. Of course she doesn't.

"You seriously have the balls to ask me that right now?" Buffy replies, looking at her in disbelief and anger.

"Didn't mean to – just kinda popped out of my mouth," Faith mumbles. God, she sucks at this. "Look I didn't—"

"Actually fine, we can dance," Buffy interrupts, cutting her off. Faith looks confused.

"What?"

But Buffy grabs her hand, pulling her onto the dance floor. Since the world seems to hate Faith's life though, a slow song comes on just as they do. Buffy wastes no time wrapping her arms around Faith's neck as the brunette awkwardly slides her hands around her waist. She doesn't _do _slow dancing; in fact, she's never slow danced in her entire life. With her luck she's gonna end up stepping on Buffy's feet.

"I'm only doing this because people have been harassing me," Buffy tells her, still sounding really pissed off with her as they swayed gently to the music. "The popular kids," she reiterates, sounding a little bitter because she used to _be_ one of those kids, "They've been asking me where my _girlfriend _is and I'd rather not deal with their shit right now. So you get one dance and if your hands wander I'm going to forcefully remove them from your body. Understand?"

"Who the fuck's been sayin' shit?" Faith asks, pulling away a little like she's ready to beat the crap out of everyone in this room, but Buffy forcefully pulls her back towards her.

"It doesn't matter. Just shut up; it's not important. Besides, I really don't want to hear your voice right now."

"But B—" she doesn't want to just stand here if people are giving her shit.

"I said _shut up,"_ Buffy hisses, the tone in her voice clearly meaning she is _not_ kidding. Faith relents and shuts up for a moment, but not long.

The music is almost tortuous as they dance slowly, in silence. Faith can almost feel Buffy fuming and she wishes she could go back in time and just _fix_ everything. But that's not possible and all she has is here and now, so she knows she has to say something. After all, she figures if Buffy wants to keep up appearances that badly then her chances of coming out of this whole thing with a broken bone has been significantly lessened.

"I'm really sorry, Buffy," she whispers. Faith can feel the blonde stiffen in her arms and she's pretty sure Buffy just made a fist in an attempt to control herself from hitting her.

"Are you deaf? I told you to shut up."

"Look, I have to say this," Faith tries, but Buffy starts shaking her head and pulling away from her. "B, please. I… I didn't mean to hurt you." Buffy untangles herself from Faith but the brunette grabs onto her forearm to prevent her from walking away. Her voice is a little desperate as she tries to explain, "I'm just a fuckin' idiot, okay? I wasn't thinking."

"And that's supposed to make everything all better?" Buffy snaps, eyes like fire as she glares at her. "News flash, Faith: you never fucking think! That still doesn't give you the right to fuck another girl in _my_ house!"

A few heads turn in their direction from the decibel of Buffy's voice, but she's not even looking at them. She's staring directly at Faith, all the anger and all the hurt practically pouring from her eyes.

"I was drunk—"

"You're_ always_ drunk!" Buffy exclaims, pointing at her accusingly. "You're always drinking and doing stupid things and I sit here and let you over and over again because somewhere in my _deluded _mind I think you're going to change, but you never do! You're always going to be selfish, Faith; and you're always going to be _alone."_ She turns around to storm off, but Faith grabs her again, needing to somehow stop this from becoming a goddamn train wreck.

"Ken doesn't mean anything to me, B! Not like…" but Faith trails off, unable to finish. She's much too aware of the attention they've earned from the other students because of their fight.

"Not like what?" Buffy snaps, whirling around and getting in her face. "You can't say it, can you? Not when everyone's fucking listening. You can't admit that you give a shit." Faith stares at her, but she doesn't say anything. She can't. And why should she? It's not like it's any of their goddamn business how she may or may not feel about someone. "That's what I thought," Buffy says, sounding angry and hurt as she backs away from her.

"Look, we… we're not even _together,_ Buffy…" Faith tries, attempting to find an excuse for her asshole behavior. She knows instantly she shouldn't have said that, even before Buffy's fist collides with her face and she falls to the ground.

"That still didn't give you the right, you stupid, _selfish_ whore!" Buffy screams, tears brimming her eyes. "Twice you've done this to me now. _Twice."_ As Faith cradles her cheek, she remembers Trish and when Buffy walked in on them. Fuck, she's right. "Well I'm not going to let you do it a third time," Buffy tells her, voice shaking a little before she turns and flees, leaving Faith broken and bruised on the floor.

"Faith!" Xander exclaims, running over to her to help her up once he saw her lying on the floor. He looks behind him and sees Buffy storming out of the gym. "Are you okay?" he asks, turning back to Faith and looking torn between thinking she deserved it and being sympathetic.

"I don't even know why I fuckin' try," Faith grumbles, pressing her knuckles to her cheek and hoping that somehow it would magically stop the bruising. God, she's gonna look like a fucking wreck tomorrow. Everyone's still staring at her though so she bursts out angrily, "Anyone have anything to fuckin' say? Cause I could use a good punching bag right now! Fuck _off!"_

That seems to make everyone mind their own business, at least for a little while. Xander takes her arm and brings her to the back of the gym, away from everyone's prying ears. "Sorry," he apologizes. "I guess maybe you shouldn't have said something so soon."

"Ya think?" Faith snaps.

Xander sighs. "Maybe after a few days she'll cool off…"

"She hates me, Xand. Like, for real fuckin' hates me. Doesn't matter if I give her a week or a year, ain't gonna change anything," Faith replies, trying to keep her voice even though saying it out loud hurt like hell. "I'm such a fuckin' idiot," she mumbles.

"Yeah, you are," Xander agrees softly. Faith wishes she could be pissed at him for agreeing with her, but she knows it's the truth; hell, she wouldn't have said it otherwise.

Faith slumps against the wall, content on just sitting there and brooding, at least, that is, until she sees Angel come through the gym doors like his ass is on fire. Faith straightens up immediately, already knowing in her gut what's going on before he opens his mouth.

"Buffy—"

"Where is she?" Faith interrupts, her stomach dropping to the floor in fear. For once she's not pissed that he's being super freaky stalker boy, in fact she's kind of glad for it. "_Where_, Angel?" she reiterates, hoping to fuck he doesn't say she went off to bitch slap the Master. A vamp, fine; Buffy can handle that. A demon; no problem. But him? All Faith can hear in her head is Giles telling her that Buffy's gonna die and she's starting to freak out.

"The Anointed One," Angel tells her, worry crossing his own features. "I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't—"

Faith feels like she's going to vomit.

"How did you know it was the Anointed One?" Xander asks, still not trusting Angel or his judgment. "I thought we weren't even sure if he rose yet!"

"Where the fuck did she go?" Faith yells, not giving a fuck if it was even really the Anointed One or not; fact is Buffy's still out there about to walk into a death trap _alone._ "ANGEL!"

"I could smell the power on him; on the child," Angel answers Xander before he turns to Faith. "And I've done some looking around this past week; I'm almost positive the entrance the vampires have been using to the Master's prison can be found in a mausoleum in Oak Hill."

Oak Hill, Faith knew that cemetery; it was close to here. Fuck, Buffy could already be dead; she's been gone for at least ten minutes and the cemetery was only five minutes away. Faith's starting to feel sick and she tries to control it but all she can do is wonder why the fuck they're all still standing around like this; they could talk on the way, damnit!

"A mausoleum?" Xander asks, not seeing the logic in an above ground stone burial site being the entrance to the Master's underground prison.

Angel doesn't have time to answer him though because Faith suddenly takes off running, "Get Giles!" she hollers back to Xander. Fuck this, she isn't waiting. Buffy could be fucking _dying._

"Faith, you can't—!"

But Faith ignores him and just keeps on running. Her hearts pounding in her ears and her legs are screaming in pain as she runs all the way to the cemetery, barely stopping for a breath. Maybe it's the adrenaline but pain, breathing? None of that fucking mattered right now. The only thing that mattered is that Buffy was stupid enough to go off on her own. Faith can't help but blame herself; maybe Buffy was too pissed to come back and ask for help, or maybe she thought that because she was so angry she'd have enough rage to beat him… whatever it was, Faith was sure at least part of it was her fault. That sickened her. She knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if Buffy's death was on her hands.

And so she runs faster, pumps her legs harder as she zigzags between the graves, trying to reach the mausoleums in the back. Faith has no idea which one it is and she should have waited for Angel to tell her, but it's too late now. Out of the corner of her eye though she sees a shadow and she knows… she _knows _that's the way she needs to go. Follow the vamps, right? Cause no one in this town is stupid enough to roam around a graveyard at night, not anymore.

Faith only stops for a moment to grab her stake from her boot before she practically tackles the vampire that's exiting one of the mausoleums. "Where is she?" she screams, fear in the back of her mind as she lands a punch square to the vampire's jaw. "WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?" She knows he's not going to answer but she's frantic.

The vampire snarls and knocks her to the ground like an annoying insect, but Faith ignores the pain and gets to her feet before he can get on top of her. Fuck him, fuck his goddamn strength; it didn't matter. She was going to fucking kill him. "Tell me!" she screams as she hits him in the face; once, twice. He lands a punch after and her back collides with the cold stone of the mausoleum before he grabs her arms, pinning her in place.

His fangs are descending and it takes every bit of her strength to get him off of her. But then suddenly it's like she's hit with some serious fucking adrenaline and her next hit that connects with him makes him go_ flying_. Faith stands there, shocked as the vampire tries to get to his feet. She can feel it; every inch of her is starting to feel more alive; stronger, faster, _better._ "No!" she cries, knowing exactly what's happening. "No, no, _no!"_ she screams, coming after the vamp and dusting him without barely exerting any effort.

"Buffy!" she screams, leaving the vampire to collapse in a pile of dust as she starts running into the mausoleum. There's a hole in the ground, an entrance near the back and she jumps down without a second thought, running down the tunnel, deeper under the earth. She can smell the soil; the dampness of the earth like it's right under her nose. She can see almost clearly in the darkness, she can hear cars passing from a mile away like they're right next to her.

Faith knows, she fucking _knows _with every fiber in her being that she just became the Slayer. She also knows that could only mean one thing, but she refuses to believe it. Instead, she keeps running faster, calling out Buffy's name and praying to God that she'll answer her.

**TBC…**


	36. Two Girls In All The World

**CHAPTER THIRTY SIX  
****Two Girls In All The World**

Faith expects to be met by a legion of vampires and the Master once she gets to the bottom of the tunnel, but instead she's greeted by nothing more than a wide stretch of space illuminated by candlelight. In the center is a small pool of water and Faith's stomach drops once she sees who's lying face down in it. "BUFFY!" she screams, taking off with a burst of speed to immediately fall to her knees beside the fallen girl.

Faith pulls her out of the water, lying Buffy on her back. Her heart is racing in her chest, she can literally _hear _each erratic beat. What frightens her is that she can't hear Buffy's at all. "No, no, no, no," she whispers, her hands cupping Buffy's cold face. "Please don't be dead, please…" she breathes as she starts to do CPR on the girl beneath her.

Part of her knows it's futile; that if she's the Slayer now then that means that Buffy's really gone. But she _refuses_ to believe that. Buffy's strong, stronger than any fucking person she's ever met in her entire life and she can _not_ be dead. She just can't be, damnit! _Fuck_ destiny, _fuck_ prophecies; they don't mean jack shit, they're just fucking words spewed by virginal monks or _something_ and just… fuck, she can't be dead! _No!_

Faith's lips cover Buffy's as she tries to breathe air into her lungs. "Please, please," she whispers, tears starting to fall from her eyes as her hands do chest compressions. One, two, three, breathe. But Buffy isn't moving, she isn't breathing, and Faith still can't hear her heart and she's starting to really freak out now. "You can't be dead!" she screams, praying Buffy can hear her and that she'll wake up. "You can't fucking be dead, Buffy! Not now, not when I…" she chokes on her tears and covers Buffy's mouth again with hers, desperately trying to give her some air.

_Not when I just realized that I need you._

Because Faith does; she fucking needs Buffy in her life. It's a scary realization but the fear of that doesn't even compare to the fear that Buffy may never wake up again. She's been so fucking stupid; she shouldn't have pushed Buffy away, she shouldn't have been such a slut, she shouldn't have been so goddamn scared of something that in retrospect is so freaking _simple._ Why couldn't Faith have told her that she gave a fuck? Why couldn't she have_ tried_ to be in a stupid relationship? Why couldn't she have just _done something?_ Buffy can't die; not like this. Her last day on earth shouldn't be filled with sadness and feelings of betrayal. This is her fault; Faith's… she knows it's her fault. She did this. Buffy came out here alone because of _her._

"B, please…" she chokes as she does three more chest compressions. She knows she should just give up, but she refuses. On the third one, Faith hears the best sound she's ever heard in her life: Buffy choking as she coughs up the bit of water that's in her lungs. "Oh my god," Faith breathes, eyes wide in shock as she can hear Buffy's heart starts beating in her chest again. "Holy fucking shit, B… Buffy…" That's impossible… isn't it? She was dead! Sure she was trying but she didn't expect… fuck, she was just being stubborn!

Is this some kind of miracle? Faith's never been religious, but fucking hell she's about to get down on her knees and thank God in a second.

"Faith?" Buffy asks, coughing a little as she opens her eyes. She looks like she thinks she's hallucinating and she asks confused, "Am I dead?" She struggles to get herself up to a sitting position.

Faith lets out a small, relieved laugh before she gathers Buffy in her arms, kissing her with every bit of emotion she has in her. "Jesus," she breathes against her lips between kisses. "I thought you were gone… I fuckin' thought…" But Faith doesn't finish. Instead she presses her lips to hers again; needing Buffy to know how glad she is that she's alive. She's pretty sure she's still crying but it really doesn't matter – nothing fucking matters besides the fact that she can feel Buffy's breath against her lips again.

When they broke Buffy says, kind of dazed. "Yeah, I'm definitely dead. Though I have to say: heaven? Not as pretty as I would have expected. Was kind of expecting a harp playing angel at least."

Faith laughs a little; that's so Buffy for you. "You're not dead," she tells her, voice filled with emotion as she touches Buffy's hair, her cheek, her neck. She leans in and kisses her on the forehead. "Fuckin' thought you were though. Or I guess… shit, you did die, for a minute because…" she trails off; she's not exactly sure how to tell her that she's the Slayer now. Does that mean Buffy _isn't_ anymore?

"The splitting has come to pass, as it is written."

Both Buffy and Faith turn, jumping up in a defensive stance as they suddenly realize they're not alone anymore. Faith take a step forward in front of Buffy, almost trying to shield her from three ugly ass demons in black robes that appeared out of fucking _nowhere._

"Who the hell are you?" Faith demands.

The first one speaks first, "We are one." Then the second one, "We are many." Then the third, "We are the Composers of Prophecy."

Do they really have to talk like that? That's freaking weird.

"The Zan'Hurrak," Faith answers, putting the pieces together. Her heart is pounding in her throat. Why the fuck are they _here?_ If it's to kill them, they really don't need this kind of shit right now. The Master's all vertical and walking around upstairs and that kinda takes precedence at the moment.

Buffy's eyes flash though and she steps out from behind Faith. "You killed my Watcher!" she screams, just as she takes off towards them to lay some serious smack down.

"B!" Faith calls out, but it's too late because the middle demon passes his hand through the air and suddenly Buffy's warded back by some sort of force field. She nearly trips over a rock as she's blown back and Faith catches her.

"We pose no threat to you," the second demon tells her. "We are merely the messengers, not the hand that drives the sword," the third finishes.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Faith demands as Buffy steadies herself on her feet.

"We are the composers prophecies; writers of destinies. We do not carry them out," the first informs them. Faith thinks that's one large load of _bullshit,_ but she fumes silently. Sure,_ they_ don't but they probably got a whole slew of minions to do their dirty work for them. But they gotta be here for a reason then, right? Might as well let them spew their crap.

"Then what are you here for?" Buffy demands, still looking like she wants to flay each and every one of them on the spot.

"The apocalypse draws near," the third demon replies.

"Uh, have ya checked the news lately? Big bad and ugly has already escaped from his cage, geniuses," Faith spits, annoyed by their complete lack of answers that made any kind of sense.

"An ally once trusted will turn against you during the coming war," the first demon tells them, ignoring Faith's response. "A death will cripple the darkness, leaving the soul vulnerable to corruption," the second goes on. "The light must eradicate the coming shadows before the fourth phase of the moon, or earth will perish in the fires of Hell," finishes the third.

"What the fuck does that even _mean?"_ Faith asks, really confused now. Can't they speak like normal fucking… non-people? Jesus Christ. They don't exactly have a weirdo demon translator handy.

"You have been warned," all three of them say just before a bright light blinds both Slayers. They shield it with their hands and when the light fades, they're left alone. They look at each other, neither of them understanding what they were just told.

"The Master," Buffy says suddenly, remembering what happened before. "Shit, Faith… it's my fault he rose. He couldn't have left without drinking some of _my _blood." She presses her palm to her forehead for a moment before sighing and running her fingers through her hair. "Damnit. I didn't think—God, I hate prophecies!"

"You and me both, B. But fuck playin' the blame game; let's get out of this gutter and go filet his ass."

She takes Buffy's hand and is about to lead her back up the tunnels, but the blonde stops her. "No, Faith; I'm not going to let you get hurt. This isn't your fight!"

"Fuckin' hell it ain't my fight!" Faith exclaims. "I just had to bring you back from the dead. _From the fuckin' dead, B! _Can you even think for one goddamn second how screwed up that was? That asshole fucked with _my _property, I ain't lettin' that slide."

"_Your_ property?" Buffy repeats, sounding halfway between astounded and offended. "I'm still angry with you, you know! You may have saved my life, but that doesn't make up for everything."

Talk about ungrateful.

"So not the time."

"I know it's not—!" Buffy starts, but stops herself midway and sighs instead. "Fine. But you're still not coming with me to fight the Master. He'll kill you in a second; you're not the Slayer."

"B, you _died!"_ Faith exclaims, trying to make her understand what the hell that means. Buffy doesn't seem to be comprehending though.

"So? I feel fine now, I can do this!"

"No, you're not fuckin' getting it," Faith replies, letting out her own sigh of aggravation. "You died and…" she's sure she's not going to take this well so she exhales a hesitant breath before finishing, "and _I_ became the Slayer, B."

Buffy stares at her for a moment, a look of utter disbelief on her face. Finally she shakes her head and says, "No, that's not possible. I _know _I'm still the Slayer, Faith; I can feel it."

"Well then we both are! I don't fuckin' know. I just know that I am! I can see better, hear better, smell better, and fuck knows I'm _stronger _than I've ever been, so yeah; pretty damn sure here," Faith tells her, needing her to understand that she's not lying or anything. "And can't… hell, can't you _feel _me?" she asks. "Because I'm pretty sure that humming feeling I'm gettin' right now is you."

Buffy continues to stare at her for a moment, as she's taking all of this information in. She's still looking distrustful though so she tells Faith, "Hit me."

"What?"

"Just humor me for a second."

"B, I'm not gonna fuckin'—"

But Buffy punches her in the arm which makes Faith retaliate by hitting her back just as hard. The feeling for both of them makes them stop, staring at each other. "That actually kind of hurt," Buffy tells her, astounded.

"And that didn't hurt nearly as bad as it used to," Faith adds. Instead of feeling like she just got hit by a truck, it's like she was just punched by someone… well, _normal._

"This is so crazy," Buffy says, staring at Faith like she doesn't exactly know what to make of her anymore. "How is this even _possible?"_

"Dunno. But ya think that's what those ugly ass things were talkin' about? The splitting happening, like maybe the Slayer split between us?" Faith asks, trying to piece everything together and have it make _some_ sort of sense. She hopes it doesn't mean they're only half as strong though; that would suck.

"I don't know, but we should probably figure it out later. We need to go," Buffy tells her, her brain catching up to the situation at hand that _doesn't _include the anomaly in the Slayer line.

Fuck, she's right. Who knows what kind of damage the Master has already done while they were standing down here getting lectured by a bunch of demon monks and playing punch for punch.

The two of them make their way out of the tunnels quickly, stealing across the graveyard in record time. But then Faith stops, grabbing Buffy's arm. "What?" Buffy asks, impatient.

"Where the hell are we even _going?_ How do we know where the bastard's gonna be?"

"We don't, that's why I'm figuring we should go back to Giles and regroup – he might have some info we don't," Buffy answers, like Faith should have figured that part out already. Well _excuse_ her for not being able to read minds.

"Fine, then let's motor," Faith replies, biting back her sarcastic remark. The two of them take off again until they reach the outskirts of the Sunnydale High parking lot. This time Faith doesn't have to stop Buffy because she grinds to a halt at the same time Faith does; staring out at the school with the same look of horror Faith's wearing.

Vampires were _everywhere._ At least thirty five of them were making their way into the back entrance of the school, near the library. "Well, least we know where he's at," Faith responds to the scene dryly. Fuck.

"Why would he want to come to the _high school?"_ Buffy asks, though knowing Faith doesn't have an answer for her.

Faith shrugs. "Fuck if I know, but at least they ain't goin' in the gym; we'd have massive casualties. Ya think they're after G's books?"

"Only one way to find out," Buffy replies before she takes off towards the school. "The roof!" she calls back to her, letting Faith know that they're going the back way, away from all the vampires that could alert the Master of their presence. Faith nods and continues after her, hoping all her friends were still safely in the gym and not wandering around the damn library.

They get to the fire escape and start climbing until they've reached the second floor. Unfortunately, that's where its cuts off and they still got at least five more feet until they get to the roof. "Give me a boost and I'll pull you up," Buffy instructs, turning her gaze from the roof back to Faith.

Faith cocks an eyebrow at her. "Take off those heels and we'll talk."

Buffy sighs in aggravation but kicks off her heels, telling her impatiently, "I can fight in heels, you know."

"Not ya fighting I was worried about. It's you climbin' on me with those things; pretty sure I'm gonna end up shanked."

Buffy rolls her eyes. "You can't get _shanked _with a high heel, Faith." She puts her bare foot in Faith's linked hands and holds onto her shoulders.

"Ya don't think?" Faith counters as she lifts Buffy up with enough ease that it actually surprises her. It's going to take her awhile to get used to being super freaky strong, that's for sure. She looks up as Buffy gets herself situated on the roof and waits for her to hold her hand out, but it never comes.

"I'm sorry," Buffy apologizes, looking a little guilty.

"B…" Faith warns, knowing exactly what she's trying to do. She damn well better not. This ain't no time for jokes! Buffy already died once fighting this dude, does she seriously think she can take him on again _alone?_

"I'm not going to let you get hurt; this is my fight. I'm sorry," is Buffy's only rushed explanation before she takes off running.

"BUFFY!" Faith screams in aggravation. Fuck, she should have known she was gonna do that. She's still got that 'one girl in all the world' complex. Whatever; Faith knows how to work with what she's got. It's not ideal and it definitely doesn't allow her the element of surprise, but she's out of options.

Faith's elbow collides with the second floor window she's next to, shattering the glass on impact. Damn, that was a little louder than she expected it to be. Snyder's probably gonna piss himself when he sees it, but Faith's hoping there isn't any cameras around that documented her little delinquent act. She'd rather not get suspended when she's trying to save the world, thanks.

Faith climbs into the building and finds herself in a classroom. She runs over to the door and… of course it's locked. "Man, I hope this works," she mutters as she takes a couple steps back. She's only seen this in the movies and she knows that when she wasn't a Slayer she'd probably break her leg doing this, but she rears back and kicks the door will full force.

The damn thing nearly comes flying off its hinges.

"Sweet," Faith exclaims, grinning. She could get used to this. Her attention flies to the sounds coming from downstairs; the vampires were moving in fast. However they seemed to be completely ignoring the racket Faith's making upstairs. Though it confuses her, she doesn't dwell on it; more important shit to worry about. Instead she takes the stairs two at a time to get to the roof door.

When she barrels her way through it she hears the Master speaking to Buffy from on top of the library roof across the way. "You're dead," he says, surprise in his voice as he sees Buffy standing not ten feet in front of him.

"And I still look pretty," she quips, "which is more than I can say for you."

"You were destined to die; it was written!" the Master exclaims, looking furious with this new plot twist. He snarls and holds out his hand, as if trying to enchant her. _"Come here,"_ he demands. Faith's about to laugh at his ridiculous attempt at mojo, but starts to freak out a little once Buffy's feet actually start moving towards them, seemingly of their own accord.

When the hell did vamps get_ that_ kind of power?

"Buffy!" she yells, beginning to run towards her. That seems to break the Master's concentration and he turns, watching Faith jump over a small sunroof to get to them. Buffy hits the Master square in the jaw before falling back into a defensive stance, smirking. He snarls, backing up a few steps.

"This can't be…" he mutters, looking between the two of them. "Such power should not radiate from two girls, there can only be one Slayer!"

"Your fault, ya know," Faith tells him, smirking as she watches the Master reevaluate his position now that he's up against two Slayers. "If ya hadn't tried to gank B, I wouldn't be here right now."

"I told you to stay behind," Buffy hisses, looking over at her with disapproval. "Don't you _ever _listen?"

"Have I ever?" Faith replies, grinning as she suddenly fills with more confidence than she's ever had in her life. This bastard's gonna die; she can feel it. If he can't even manage to kill _one_ Slayer properly, how in the fuck is gonna kill two?

But that confidence is quickly shattered once a deafening crash is heard below. Both slayers look down the large oval sunroof into the library, eyes wide. "What the fuck is that?" Faith screams, seeing a fifteen foot tentacle-clad looking creature burst out of the floor – right in the middle of the library.

That can't be normal.

"Faith, everyone's down there!" Buffy exclaims, finally taking notice of Giles and their friends pressed up against the doors, trying to keep the herds of vampires out. "Faith, we need to—!" but she doesn't get to finish her sentence because all of a sudden the Master grabs her by her throat during her lapse in concentration.

He hovers two fingers in front of her eyes, trying to enchant her again. _"You will not struggle,"_ he hisses and Buffy stops moving instantly.

Dude, this hypnotizing shit ain't fair. At least he can only seem to do one of them at a time, which puts him at a _serious _disadvantage.

"She might not, but I sure as fuck will," Faith tells him before she kicks out; her foot landing square on his back and making him release his hold on Buffy. He snarls and whips around to face her, blocking the first punch she throws but unable to dodge the second.

Faith can't celebrate her victory long though because his fingers are soon wrapped around her throat. What is it with him and his asphyxiation kink? "You got fruit punch mouth," she informs him as she sees Buffy come up behind him. Off of his confused look she smirks just as Buffy punches the back of his head hard. He drops Faith instantly and snarls.

"Faith, help them!" Buffy shouts, but Faith doesn't budge.

"And watch you get hypnotized and bitten again? No thanks, Princess. Besides, Angel's down there; he's got that covered while we deal with this asshole."

"FAITH!" Buffy screams in frustration as she dodges another punch, which allows Faith the opening to attack.

"Ya want me go to down there? Then let's dust this fucker quickly so I _can!"_ Faith shouts back, not about to leave Buffy alone. Honestly, neither of them should be alone with this Houdini mother fucker.

"Ugh, sometimes I hate that you're so damn _stubborn!"_ Buffy shouts, pouring out all her aggravation at Faith on the Master.

It's strange, but it seems like after a little while they seemed to be moving in sync with each other; complimenting each other's moves. As they've never trained like that since they've never been on the same level, it's safe to assume it only came naturally. It was kind of wicked, if Faith's being honest.

The Master was strong; there was no denying that. Even with their combined strength and skill they still had a hell of a time fighting him. They kept him occupied enough though that he couldn't hypnotize them, which Faith figures is a plus just in case he got fed up and ordered one of them to kill themselves. After a brutal back and forth, Faith sees an opening and drives a stake through his heart.

But nothing happens.

The Master laughs, pulling the stake out from his chest and dropping it to the ground. "You're going to need a bigger stake, Slayer."

"Uh, B…?" Faith starts, backing up a few steps. Fuck, it ain't like they're carrying sharpened two by fours in their back pockets. The Master advances on her, cackling in that typical bad guy way. Mixed between her feelings of dread, Faith can't help but wonder if all vamps have to take lessons for that kind of shit.

"On it," Buffy tells her as she looks down through the sun roof, into the library. Faith's too busy to see what she's doing though because he suddenly has his hands around her throat again.

"Fuck, what _is_ it with you and choking people!" Faith screams through her coughs as she feels her airway start to close. "Anyone tell you there's supposed to be a safe word involved?" Her fingers close around his own, trying to pry them off of her.

She has the stray hope that maybe Buffy can get at him, but that's diminished when the Master apparently senses her coming and suddenly she's in a choke hold as well. "Fuck, way to go," Faith wheezes, starting to feel a lightheaded. He's backing them up towards the sunroof and Faith's praying he doesn't throw them through it.

"Did you really think you could stop me from unleashing Hell upon this earth?" he goads, looking far too pleased with himself than Faith would like.

"You're that amped about Hell?" Buffy asks, eyes flashing before she grabs a hold of his throat. Faith instantly follows her lead and places her hand over Buffy's, helping her keep him in a choke hold. "Then go there," she tells him before she shoots a pointed look at Faith. Maybe it's a Slayer thing, but Faith seems to instantly understand what she's trying to do.

They move in sync as they step to the side quickly, forcing the Master to release his hold on them as they hurl him through the glass of the sunroof. He curses at them as he falls, but it's short lived once he lands on a large, jagged piece of the flooring that was uprooted from the tentacle demon's entrance. He screams as he turns to dust, leaving nothing but a skeleton behind.

Damn, Faith ain't ever seen any actually leave something behind before. Guy must be super fucking old.

The second the Master dies, the large tentacle demon retreats back into the hole it came from and the vampires scatter. Giles and their friends look up at the roof to try to figure out what the hell just happened and they're greeted by Buffy and Faith's grinning faces.

"One apocalypse down," Faith says, turning to look at Buffy.

Buffy frowns as she finishes, "Ugh, which means one more to go."

"Don't sweat it, girlfriend. There's two of us now; serious ass kicking is bound to happen." Faith grins at her and Buffy tries to keep herself from smiling, but one sneaks out anyway.

"Your cockiness is going to kill you one day, you know," she warns, but lightly. She still sounds amused regardless.

"Whatever. Least when I die I'm gonna go out thinkin' I'm the shit."

Buffy laughs, shaking her head as the two of them begin to make their decent back down to the library.

**TBC…**


	37. The Aftermath

**CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN  
****The Aftermath**

"Dude, Snyder is going to _kill _you," Faith tells Giles, looking at the large hole in the middle of the Sunnydale High library. It looks like it goes all the way down to the basement.

"Nonsense, I was never here," Giles tells her with a small smile of amusement. "It's amazing how destructive children can be these days, especially when riled up from a school dance."

"Long as the shit don't fall on me, I'm cool," Faith replies, leaning against the counter. She's taken the heat for a lot of stuff that she may or may not have done over the past years, but a crater in the library? She'll be expelled in a second.

"I hate this town, I hate this _school,"_ comes the hysterical voice of Cordelia Chase, who Faith didn't even notice was in the room until that moment. She's holding onto Xander like he's her damn life raft in the river of crazy.

"What the fuck is she doing here?"

"S-She helped fight," Willow stammers, standing up for her for God only knows _what _wacked out reason. "So please be nice."

_Cordelia_ helped fight? That bitch only cares about one person: herself. Faith knows that if she is getting some credit for this shit, the only reason is cause she found herself in the middle of all of this accidently. No way would she ever volunteer to help any of them willingly.

But whatever, Cordelia is the least of her issues right now. "G, we got a problem…" she starts, about to tell him about the Zan'Hurrak, but she's interrupted by Buffy.

"Faith is a Slayer!" she bursts out suddenly, like she couldn't contain it any longer.

"Okay, that wasn't what I was talkin' about and _hey_, so not a problem either," Faith retorts, annoyed that she got just interrupted. "But… yeah," she went on, feeling a little awkward from everyone's disbelieving looks, "that happened too."

Willow squees loudly at this information, looking really excited for Faith. When everyone stares at her though she blushes and apologizes, "S-Sorry…" Faith can't help but grin though; Willow knew how much she wanted to be a Slayer. It _was _pretty bad ass.

"That's not possible," Giles says, staring at Faith as if he's not sure whether to believe her or not. He takes off his glasses, as if somehow things would become clearer with his fuzzy, old people vision. "A Slayer cannot be called unless the last dies." He looks over at Buffy now, now probably wondering if she's a zombie. Which after what he read in that book, was probably a valid deduction. Buffy _was _destined to die, Faith supposed. But fuck it, cause she didn't _stay_ dead.

"Yeah well, B managed to drown herself in a puddle and was technically dead for like, a minute," Faith answers, shrugging and wishing she didn't feel so damn self-conscious with everyone just _staring _at her like that. "So I guess that was enough for me to get juiced."

"This is so not _fair,"_ Kennedy complains, looking at the two of them in disbelief and anger. Faith knows she wanted to be the Slayer, but she doesn't have to be a little brat over it. The card was drawn and Kennedy's name wasn't on it. Story; end of.

"Kennedy, please," Wesley says, holding his hand up to silence his potential. "We do not know if it's true. Faith could be lying."

"Ya wanna fuckin' hit me and find out, Wes?" Faith exclaims, taking a menacing step forward. She's not a fucking liar and she hates being called one. Fuck that shit. Wesley backs up like the good little dog that he is as Giles puts a hand on Faith's shoulder, silently telling her to stop.

"How do you think she managed to help me kill the Master up there, Giles?" Buffy says, coming to Faith's defense whilst ignoring Wesley. "If she didn't have the strength and the skill he would have killed her in ten seconds flat."

"She is a Slayer," Angel interrupts, coming out of the shadows. His whole Prince of Darkness act is getting old, but Faith doesn't say anything since he's backing her play right now. "I can smell it," he explains off of everyone's quizzical looks.

"Okay, that's just weird," Xander says, looking at Angel with mistrust. Faith can't blame him; it's like he just implied she was some kind of tasty snack. But he's neutered so it ain't like she's gonna worry about Angel trying to take a chunk out of her; he apparently has a fondness for pigs at the moment.

"This is fascinating," Giles says, looking at the two of them like he wants to poke and prod at them and do a bunch of crazy ass tests. Great, Faith knows now what the next six months of her life is going to look like.

"Yeah, sure, it's fuckin' amazing," Faith dismisses. "But can we get back to the real shitfest here? The Zan'Hurrak came and had a cryptic little chat with me and B."

"Emphasis on the cryptic," Buffy adds.

"The Zan'Hurrak?" Giles asks, eyes widening. "Dear lord, are you sure?"

"Says they're the composers of prophecy, keepers of… whatever, probably Narnia, but yeah; know it was them. They spewed some kind of bullshit riddle and warned us about an apocalypse and then got the hell outta dodge."

"_Another _apocalypse?" Kennedy asks, groaning as she slumps against the wall. "This is ridiculous."

"In four months," Buffy tells them softly, not looking entirely enthused by the prospect. Then again, any of them that were would probably have to be taken straight to the nuthouse.

"How'd you get four months?" Faith asks, having missed that.

"Four phases of the moon?" Buffy reminds her, in this tone like she should have understood that. "That's roughly four months."

"No need to talk to me like I'm a retard B; was kinda caught up with the part talkin' about death and someone turnin' against us," Faith retorts.

Giles looks like he's trying to say something, but then everyone starts talking at once.

"Wait, who the hell is gonna turn against us?" Kennedy asks, now looking at everyone suspiciously.

"Probably Vampy McSucky over there," Xander replies, looking at Angel like he's the reason the next apocalypse is going to rain down on their heads.

"You still don't trust me," Angel states, which was obvious but hey, maybe he just needed to voice it out loud. "That's fine, you all have reasons enough not to. But I'm here and I'm helping, so I'd like to say that before we start worrying about this apocalypse, we should probably be worrying about Darla."

"The vamp with the school girl fetish?" Faith asks, remembering her from the Harvest.

Angel nods. "The Master was her sire; lately she hasn't left his side. The fact that she did when he rose worries me. She's always out for her own means, but I don't know what would keep her attention more than the ascension of her sire."

"Oh great, so we got the kinky bitch vamp to take care of too," Faith replies. "Great." So not great, actually. Pretty much on this side of suck.

"Is she strong enough to start an apocalypse?" Buffy asks.

"Strong enough, yes. But she wouldn't; at least not intentionally. Darla likes to 'enjoy the earth in all its agonizing glory'," Angel says. When everyone looks at him funny he explains, "her words, not mine. Anyway, if the world ended… she wouldn't be very happy."

Giles tries to speak again, but he's interrupted for the second time.

"Why, no more people to torture?" Xander asks, trying to imply something or other about Angel that Faith was barely paying attention too. She's not Angel's biggest fan either, but she's pretty sure Xander's just pissed about not being the only dude on the ranch anymore.

Because let's face it: Wesley and Giles don't count. Regardless, Angel and Xander should just lay them out on the table and measure; get it over with.

Angel turns to Xander and simply says, "Exactly. Also, eradication of the humans would mean vampires wouldn't have a food source."

"But isn't it possible that there could be an apocalypse where we all _don't_ die?" Buffy counters. "I mean, if the Master got his way I'm sure he wouldn't have killed us all because like you said, then he wouldn't have a food source."

"Or we could consider the possibility that Buffy and Faith are full of crap and there_ is _no apocalypse," Kennedy replies, still sounding bitter about not being chosen.

"Ya wanna fuckin' run that by me again, Ken?" Faith snaps.

"You know what? The last thing I ever want to hear is you speaking," Buffy tells Kennedy. "So I suggest you shut up."

"Oh please," Kennedy scoffs, rolling her eyes. "You can be all buddy-buddy with Faith again, but you're still pissed at me? Pussy whipped if I ever heard it. Newsflash, Barbie: Faith can fuck whoever she wants."

"You think Faith's getting a free pass? HA," Buffy replies, laughing bitterly. "She's in more shit than you are. Excuse me for prioritizing the _apocalypse_ over my relationship issues with Faith; I see how confusing that must be for you. Just because I can put stuff aside to do my _job,_ doesn't mean they don't still exist. So the next time you have an opinion, how about you try keeping your mouth closed?"

Again Giles tries to speak, but this time he's drowned out by the shouting match.

"You're not_ in_ a relationship with her!" Kennedy exclaims. "You're fucking delusional, Buffy; just because you have a crush on her doesn't mean she's going to change who she is."

"Oh, because_ you_ know so much about her, right? Go to hell, Kennedy!"

"Okay, seriously, Ken? Stop trying to fuckin' help; you're shit at it," Faith interjects, needing that to be said before Kennedy continues to 'stick up' for her rights.

"Wasn't trying to help you; just stating the facts, here. I'm not particularly fond of helping ass kissers anyway."

"_Excuse_ me?"

"You heard me."

"Is my face breaking out from all the dyke in here?" Cordelia asks Xander, who gives her a disapproving look as she waves her hand over her face. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to this kind of drama."

Faith chooses to ignore Kennedy and Cordelia, instead focusing on Buffy, "And hey, I'm the one that saved your life! I know I fucked up, okay? But that's gotta count for something, right?" Cause hell, it should, shouldn't it? She knows she screwed up big time, here; she's not stupid, but she also doesn't have the first clue how to fix it. And she wants to, but this kind of stuff is so far out of her comfort zone that she doesn't even know where to start.

"You know what? This is ridiculous, I'm out of here," Kennedy says before storming off. Only Tara and Wesley seemed to really notice.

"Just because you saved my life doesn't mean you didn't break my heart!" Buffy shouts, looking like she wants to deck Faith in the face and then cry for hours afterwards. "You have no _clue_ how it felt for me to see her with you, Faith! So just do yourself a favor and shut up; I don't want to talk about this right now!"

God, this isn't going well at all.

Everyone else in the room is looking increasingly uncomfortable, which probably means they need to quit doing this shit here. But fuck, Kennedy started the whole thing. Or maybe it was Buffy; Faith can't remember. All she knows is it wasn't her.

"Stop, all of you!" Giles says, holding out his hands to stop the screaming finally. "Faith, Buffy, I'm sorry you two are quarreling—"

"Again," Xander mutters, prompting Faith to shoot him a dirty look.

"—but we need to focus on the important issues at hand here; this apocalypse and whatever else the Zan'Hurrak may have mentioned. Do either of you remember all of it?"

Buffy shoots one last glare in Faith's direction before she turns to Giles. "Like Faith said, they mentioned an ally turning against us and a death. Then something about a light that needs to shine through? I'm not sure. But the apocalypse will happen in about four months."

"They didn't say it was gonna happen specifically," Faith replies, trying not to show how much she feels like shit right now. "The new Big Bad could just be _starting_ his plans then." She tries not to look at Buffy cause every time she does she feels like punching something to stop herself from crying. She fucking hates this. Why'd Buffy have to go and die? Faith was happy _not_ realizing that she needed her before then, thanks; it was simpler.

"Well whatever, something bad is happening then; period," Buffy responds, a slight snap in her voice. Giles sighs.

"Do either of you remember the specific _wording?"_

"Dude, kinda had other things on our minds," Faith replies, holding out her hands so he can survey the scene in front of him. "Which by the way, kinda fucked up that the Hellmouth was like, _right_ under us."

"Yes, well… I wasn't quite expecting that either," Giles admits. His eyes flicker over to Buffy. "Among other things," he adds quietly. "But some of what has transpired tonight has turned out to be wonderful twists of fate. I wonder, Buffy, how you managed to get around the prophecy."

"You mean the Anointed One and how I wasn't supposed to be able to stop him?" Buffy asks. "Well it said I wouldn't know who he was and hi; I'm sorry, but a creepy little kid randomly outside in the dead of night, alone, and in need of 'help'? I've seen enough horror movies to know that never spells anything good. Which is probably why I was able to slice and dice him like a Christmas ham."

"Don't ruin ham, Buffy," Xander requests, looking a little ill.

"You killed him?" Giles asks, ignoring Xander's comment.

"You didn't expect me to keep him around, did you? He worked for Big, Bad, and Ugly over there," she nodded to the Master's remains. "He wasn't a child anymore; that much was obvious. I don't know what he was honestly, but he gave me the wiggins."

"So that is how you were able to survive," Giles comments, looking fascinated. "I never knew the Codex to have loopholes, but I suppose you learn something new every day." He sounds like he's talking to himself more than anyone, but it's still very much out loud.

"The Codex?" Buffy asks, confused.

"The dusty old book that said you were gonna die," Faith answers without thinking. Buffy's eyes snap to look at her.

"_What?"_

Shit.

Giles sighs, looking over at Faith disapprovingly even though he's the one that brought up the stupid book in the first place. "The Codex," he explains carefully, gauging her reaction, "is a book of prophecy. It… had stated that the Master would kill you."

"And you _knew_ about this?" Buffy exclaims, rounding on Faith.

"Well it ain't like you _stayed _dead or anything!" Faith defends. "I mean, you're still standin' here, right? So what's the big deal?"

"The big…?" Buffy starts, sounding exasperated and a little bewildered. "The big _deal _is that for God only knows how long, you thought I was going to die! And you _still _treated me like shit?"

"Hey, I said I was fuckin' sorry about the Kennedy thing alright? I was stupid; not headline news or anything. And last time I checked, I was treating you pretty goddamn good these last couple weeks, in comparison."

"Oh, so you were only being nice out of _pity?_ That's great, Faith. Really."

"Okay, make up your fuckin' mind! First you say I treated you like shit and now you're pissed cause I treated you _nice?"_ Faith exclaims, not understanding her train of thought in the slightest.

"You did both! And you know what, none of that even matters because you should have just_ told_ me!"

"Well I'm sorry for trying not to freak you out; next time I'll be sure to lay that mental breakdown on you, Princess," Faith snaps.

"Girls, please," Giles tries, sounding tired. Hell, they were all tired, which is probably why all their tempers were running high.

"You know," Buffy starts, looking really upset as she stares at Faith. "Out of everyone, I thought _you _would at least be honest with me," she tells her before shaking her head and storming off.

"B!" Faith tries, but Buffy doesn't look back as she exits the library in a wave of fury and sadness. "Fuck," Faith swears, closing her eyes as she rubs her temples, trying to dull her oncoming headache. She rounds on Giles, "Thanks a lot, G. I was already halfway up shit creek without a paddle; didn't need to be fuckin' capsized."

"I'm sorry," Giles apologizes, looking a little guilty. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I was merely stunned by the revelation that The Codex has loopholes, when the Watcher's Council had always found it so concrete."

"If I may…" Wesley tries to interrupt.

"_No,"_ Faith says, not in the mood.

Wesley ignores her, of course. _"If_ Faith and Buffy are now both Slayers, as they say, we should probably begin tests right away. As this has never happened before—"

"_If?"_ Faith repeats, so not in the right frame of mind to deal with this right now. Which is probably mostly to blame for her next decision: picking up one of Giles' letter openers and throwing it at the target board that was barely hanging by a string not two feet from where Wesley's standing. He jumps a mile when the thing goes whizzing past him. "There's your fuckin' _if,_ Wes."

Giles looks at the board. "Not a perfect bull's eye, but I daresay a staggering improvement from yesterday." He raises his eyebrows, "Impressive."

Faith looks at the target. Oh come on, she was this _close._ That should count as perfect anyway, fuck it. "I'm pissed, otherwise I woulda hit it," she grumbles. She's actually not sure that's true, but whatever. She's better, yeah, but she's still pretty sure most of that was luck. Even Buffy had to practice with this stuff.

"Okay, if we've gotten to the 'Angry Slayer Throwing Knives' part of the evening, I think it's time for the sane people to leave," Cordelia says, looking at Faith like she doesn't want to be her next target. Yet it's funny, because the way she talks kinda makes it seem like she does. Maybe she just doesn't know how to talk to people without being a ginormous cunt. "Xander?" she says, turning and looking at him expectantly.

"What are you, a taxi service now?" Faith asks, looking at him.

"I offered her a ride home…" Xander replies softly, looking a little sheepish for being called out like that.

"You know, Faith; maybe if you spent a little less time being a slut and a little _more_ time being a gentleman like Xander, then maybe the only girl who has ever given a shit about you wouldn't always look like she wanted to kick your ass," Cordelia replied with a snotty attitude.

A gentleman like _Xander?_ Did she really just say that? Even Xander looks perplexed by that; it was probably the nicest thing she's ever actually said about him. Faith doesn't even care about the insults, she's used to that shit, but she wants to know what the fuck is going on. Earlier Cordelia looked like she didn't even want to be seen talking to him and now she's… _holding his hand?_

"Come on," she practically orders Xander as she starts to pull him out of the library. He gives Faith a helpless look before he's pulled around the corner, out of sight.

"My brain can't even wrap around this fuckery," Faith states, running her fingers through her hair in confusion. She turns to Willow. "Did he play hero or something? Cause that bitch is actin' like he's the patron saint of boyfriends right now and I don't get it."

Willow purses her lips, knowing Faith isn't going to like her answer. But she tells her, "S-She nearly got bit when we were trying to keep the vampires out and yeah, he… w-well, he staked it."

"Great," Faith says flatly. "If she starts tryin' to hang with us, I'm petitioning that we tell her to fuck off."

Willow doesn't look like she entirely agrees with that plan, but stays silent.

"Well," Giles starts, trying to lighten the mood with a more cheerful tone, though what he had to say was nothing exciting. "I would appreciate if you all would help me clear this place up before Principle Snyder sees it."

"How we gonna fix the hole?" Faith asks, staring down at the crater in the ground.

"We won't. I only meant disposing of the Master's remains and helping me move all of the weapons and my private book collection out. Temporarily, of course; while they are repairing the floor," Giles answers.

"Where the hell are we gonna train?"

"I have some space in my house," Giles tells her, beginning to gather up some of his books. "It isn't ideal, but it will have to do for now."

Faith makes a face at that. She's never been over Giles' house… be kinda weird to see how he lives like a normal person when Faith's always known him as… well, a stuffy librarian-slash-Watcher. Faith idly wonders if he's got a lady at home with him. God, that'd be even more awkward.

Least she won't have to train there alone.

The thought of Buffy makes her stomach sink to the floor though. They felt totally in sync when they were slaying that for a second Faith actually thought maybe everything wouldn't be complete shit. Turns out she was wrong but hey; what else is new? She's got no clue how to go about making it up to her. But for the first time in her life, she actually _does _want to make things right with a chick so if that doesn't say something about Buffy, then Faith doesn't know what does. She's just… shit, _special_ or something. Faith doesn't know, but she does know she wants to… crap; she kinda wants to fucking_ be_ with her, as pussy as that sounds. That's so weird for her to admit, but whatever; couldn't hurt to try it, right? You only live once.

But if she ever actually gets to that place, it'd be a goddamn miracle because right now, Faith's pretty sure that the last thing Buffy wants to hear is that Faith changed her mind.

**TBC…**


	38. Homosexuality and Slayers

**CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT  
****Homosexuality and Slayers**

"I think I wanna date Buffy."

Xander chokes on his cookie.

After a moment of coughing and attempting to breathe, he looks at her and asks, "I'm sorry, _what?"_ He's looking at her like she just sprouted two extra heads.

Faith sighs, knowing how utterly stupid she sounds. She rubs her forehead as she replies, "I want her to be my fuckin' girlfriend, alright?" She knows she's snapping at him, but this is an uncomfortable topic of conversation. Her voice is hushed though; she doesn't need everyone else in the lunch room knowing her business. It's bad enough half the fucking school witnessed Buffy punching her during Homecoming.

Xander's eyes go almost as wide as saucers. "You're serious?" he asks, like he still can't believe he actually heard those words coming out of his friend's mouth.

"Wouldn't have said it if I wasn't."

"Wow," Xander replies, impressed. "That's… _huge. _That's bigger than huge, that's like… an elephant on steroids."

Faith groans, pitching her head forward to lie in her arms on the table. Xander cocks an eyebrow.

"I take it you don't think this is a good thing."

"She fuckin' hates me, Xand," Faith mumbles beneath her arms. She looks up at him and finishes, "She wouldn't even _look _at me earlier. And when I tried to say hi, she completely ignored me. I don't know what to do."

"Don't worry, the Love Doctor is in," Xander says, shooting her a cheesy grin. Off of Faith's skeptical look he revises, "Okay, I don't know anything; I'll admit that. Honestly I don't even know if Cordelia and I are dating right now, which is… confusing. But I do know that you should try apologizing first and see where it goes from there."

"I _tried_ that."

"Yeah, but you said you were sorry without actually expressing your feelings for her. Tell Buffy that you realized she's the one you want. Tell her you _like_ her, Faith. And if that fails, then try buying her lots of flowers and chocolates. Or you could serenade her? I don't know. But you have to do _something,_ otherwise I'm pretty sure you'll never have her."

Faith curls up her lip in disdain. "I'm gonna look like a fuckin' idiot if I do… any of that." Does she look like the type of person to go all Romeo on her Juliet? No. If Xander starts suggesting tights she's gonna hang herself in the gym; save herself the humiliation.

"I think for once you're going to have to put your pride on hold," Xander tells her. "You hurt her, Faith. The least you can do is make yourself look like an 'idiot' while you try to win her back."

"Not 'winnin' her back', Xand. Woulda had to have her first to do that."

"You kind of did," Xander tells her seriously, looking at her like she should know this. "If you hadn't had sex with Kennedy and still decided today to ask her out, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. I think you know that."

Faith groans again and bangs her forehead on the table. Fuck, he's right. Why did she have to go and screw everything up? This could have been a whole lot easier if she wasn't such a grade A retard. Not that Faith's advocating for her new found lifestyle change since it still kinds fucks her sideways, but why the hell couldn't she have realized this shit months ago?

Faith looks up once she hears someone coming to sit at their table. Her eyebrows rise when she sees that it's Cordelia, looking incredibly uncomfortable with her decision to sit with them. "Hi," she says awkwardly, smoothing out her expensive dress with her hands.

"You lost?" Faith asks with an attitude, "Because I'm pretty sure the soulless bitch table is three down."

"Faith," Xander says disapprovingly.

"What? I don't like her, she don't like me, so I don't think it's too out there to wonder what the fuck she's doing at_ my_ table."

"I've decided to sit with Xander today. Is that a _crime_ now?" Cordelia asks, like she's trying to challenge her or something. Bitch, please.

"Pretty sure in your crowd it is, actually," Faith retorts. Her eyes flicker over to the popular kids table and notices them stealing glances at Cordelia and whispering to each other. Then they laughed; not in the funny 'ha-ha' kind of way, but the 'we want to destroy your self-esteem' kind of way.

Oh, _dude._

The realization hits Faith and it may be mean, but fuck it; she couldn't help but laugh. "What the hell is so funny?" Cordelia demanded, suddenly looking less sure of herself.

"They kicked you out, didn't they? That's fucking _hilarious."_

"Sympathy isn't one of her strong suits," Xander mutters to Cordelia, but she ignores him. She outright scoffs at Faith's accusation.

"Please, I'm Cordelia Chase. No one kicks _me_ out of anything," she tells her, flicking her hair over her shoulder in a wave of self-importance. "But if you must know, I left to pursue other options."

"Bitch, this ain't a _job;_ it's high school. They found out that you were mackin' on Xander and gave you the boot, huh? Typical. Real great friends ya got there, Cor. Can see how much you mean to them," Faith responds nastily, still laughing. Xander's looking at her like she's being the biggest bitch on the face of the planet but hey; Cordelia started that shit. This is just payback, baby.

"_Actually,_ they were the one's begging me to plead temporary insanity and dump Xander's ass, but I was the one that told them to go to hell," Cordelia snaps. That makes both Faith and Xander look at her like she just said she wanted to fly to the moon on the back of a broomstick made of cheese.

"Wait, what?" Faith asks, not sure if she heard her correctly. If Cordelia just said what she thinks she just said, then that means she's not a total cunt bag after all and Faith's not exactly sure how to process that information.

Cordelia knows she heard her, so she doesn't repeat it. "Look, Faith. I don't like you and it's not like I'm exactly thrilled to be in the same vicinity as all _this,"_ she waves her hand in front of Faith, indicating she's talking about her – or maybe even just her wardrobe choice, "but Xander's my boyfriend and I know you're his best friend so…" she struggles with her last sentence, like it's physically difficult for her to say, "I will make a point to not be as… _opinionated _about you." She looks like she's trying to hold back the urge to vomit because of those words.

"I'm your boyfriend?" Xander asks, looking like he felt he missed something important.

"Well, _obviously._ Jeez," Cordelia replies, shaking her head and scoffing a little. Xander's face breaks out in a huge grin and Faith would like to be happy for him, really, but now all she can think is that this bitch is going to be hanging around them all the time.

That _sucks._

"Yeah, well," Faith says, standing up. "I ain't makin' the same promise. You tried to make my life a living hell when I transferred here, the _last _thing I want is to do you any favors." Cordelia looks offended that Faith didn't just take her offer of a truce on bended knee, but Faith turns to Xander. "I'm gonna go find Giles; figure out when the hell we're all meetin' up at his for the training/research parade. I'll let you know."

Faith left without hearing Xander's response, though mostly because she knew he was annoyed with her for being mean to Cordelia when she's attempting to somewhat resemble an actual human being. But a year of getting shit on by her and her friends just cause she was gay, poor, and didn't dress like a goddamn supermodel has made her bitter; that's not going to change in a day. Frankly Faith thinks he should know that, should even be kind of on the same side of the fence with her but… hey, his first real girlfriend? Faith knows that's gonna cloud his vision. She can't blame him for it, but it ain't like she's gonna throw a party over it either.

She did eventually find Giles and after he told her to please tell everyone to meet at his house at four, she went and told the rest of the troops. Well, all except Buffy, who somehow had this knack of avoiding her. That was, at least, until their last class of the day; History.

Even before they were friends, they were seated next to each other. Assigned seating can either be a blessing or a curse and if you asked Faith six months ago, she would have said that she hated being next to Buffy. However, right now she was glad for it. It's juvenile and probably hella retarded, but while Mr. Blackwell is rambling on about World War II she starts scribbling Buffy a note:

"_I know you're pissed and have every reason to not wanna talk to me right now, but G told me to tell you that we're meeting at his at four."_

She doesn't want to go into it any more than that on a piece of paper so she folds it up and slips it onto Buffy's desk. The blonde looks at her funny, like she wasn't ever expecting Faith to be passing _notes_ in class (because c'mon, that's girly as shit), but she picks it up anyway, unfolding it to read. After a moment she writes something back and hands it to Faith.

"_Fine. But don't expect for me to speak to you unless it's Slayer related. Ever."_

Faith sighs, running her fingers through her hair for a moment as she tries to think of something to say back. She was kind of expecting that, but it still sucked. Finally she puts her pen to paper and writes, _"You'd be dead right now if it weren't for me, you know." _But she decides that's a really stupid thing to say and crosses it out a couple times before she revises, _"You wanna make me beg, don't you?"_ That probably wasn't any smarter, but it sounded less self-important.

Buffy glares at her as she hands the note back to her, but grabs it before the teacher can see. She sits there for a moment, ignoring it, but curiosity apparently got the best of her because she opens it up to read it. Even though she tries to hide it, Faith can see her smirk slightly as she writes her back.

"_Maybe. It's probably the least you could do, after everything."_

Well, here goes her pride. She'll miss it. Faith starts scribbling away on the note, so much that it even gets Buffy's attention that she's taking so long. When she finally gives it back to Buffy, nearly the whole page is filled with the word "please" and then "talk to me" tucked away once at the bottom. When Buffy receives it, her eyes go wide before she looks over at her, not believing she really just did that since it was so… un-Faith like. Faith feels like an idiot, but doesn't make less of what she said by turning it into a joke or pretending it doesn't matter. She just waits while she watches Buffy slip the note in her binder before pulling out a blank sheet of paper.

When Faith gets a response, it reads, _"As appreciative – and surprised – that I am that you just did that, it doesn't change anything. I know you want to be friends, Faith, but I just can't right now. You broke my heart; that's going to take some time to get over. I'm sorry, but please stop."_

Um, no. She's not going to do that. If Faith's one thing; it's stubborn. And you know what? When she wants something, she gets it. So maybe she's gonna have to work a little harder for this but in the end she's gonna figure out a way to fix everything.

Faith only wished she had the magic answer as to_ how_ though.

She takes a breath as she writes, _"Don't wanna be friends, B. Wanna be more than that."_ Faith doesn't give it to her right away though, mainly cause she's being a pussy over it. Once she gives this to Buffy, that's it; ain't no taking it back. She pretends to concentrate on Mr. Blackwell's droning voice for a little while, until she finally works up the courage to slide it over to Buffy.

Buffy gives her a 'seriously?' look once she realizes Faith's still talking to her after she told her to stop. She rolls her eyes as she opens it, probably ready to tear Faith a new asshole in her reply, but she never gets that far. Once she reads what's on the paper she exclaims suddenly, _"What?" _very much surprised and very much _out loud _as she turns to look at her.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Ms. Summers?" Mr. Blackwell asks, looking at her disapprovingly for interrupting his class. Every student in the room turns to look at her and Buffy blushes.

"No," she mumbles as she crumples up the note, hoping he doesn't see it.

"Then I hope you'll refrain from interrupting my class again, otherwise you'll be finding yourself in detention," Mr. Blackwell warns. Buffy looks thoroughly embarrassed as she apologizes and Faith decides it's probably not safe to keep fucking around with notes during the middle of class, so she stops. It kills her though; leaving shit like that. Big reveal and now it feels like it's hanging over their heads, taunting them. But neither of them says anything; it's not the time.

Faith figures Buffy would wanna talk after class, but she nearly bolts out the door once the bell rings. Buffy's usually the queen of talking so that confuses Faith immensely but she tries to ignore how shitty she feels as she puts away her books in her locker. Part of her hoped that maybe just saying that would make a difference, but it didn't seem to at all. Sure she's a fuck up, but isn't that all Buffy's wanted for like… ever?

Faith doesn't see Buffy again until they're all gathered at Giles'. They don't get a chance to talk alone though because, well, they were joined not only by Giles, but by Kennedy, Wesley, and Xander too. Willow and Tara said they were going to be late and Faith is praying like hell that Cordelia doesn't randomly stop by, though she figures she won't since she doesn't seem to like their little world of craziness. And since it's the middle of the day, the chances of Angel showing up are pretty slim to none. So at least it isn't a large crowd, but it's enough to keep them from talking about what Faith's note said, which is annoying.

Giles house is actually bigger than Faith expected, with three bedrooms even though he lived alone. He had cleared one out and put all of their training stuff in there and it actually looked pretty bad ass. Faith missed the library, but ain't like they could do much about it; there's a huge crater in the floor.

"Principal Snyder has informed me it should only take a month before the library is back to new," Giles tells them as they sit around his living room-slash-practically a library. Man, this dude likes to read.

"He pissed?" Faith asks, kicking back in one of his large armchairs.

"That would be an understatement," Giles replies, looking a little amused despite himself. "Until then, I have more than enough room and resources to use this as our temporary base, for lack of a better term."

"That sounds so secret agenty," Xander replies. "Oh! We should have name – like the Avengers!"

Buffy raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. Faith however, in all her dorkiness finds this to be a great idea. "Aw, dude. Like, the X-Men of kickin' undead ass!"

"Yes, well; if you find it _that_ important you may brainstorm names later," Giles replies, clearly not seeing the importance in the awesome that is a bad ass name. "But for now I think we should focus on the looming apocalypse."

"Focus on _what?_ We don't know nothin' about it," Faith responds. "I figure when the world starts comin' to an end again we'll know, but for now can't we have a break? I mean c'mon, we just killed the Master. Think we deserve a little R&R."

"I agree," Buffy replies from over on the couch, looking at Giles. "I mean, I understand that something's brewing, but we don't have the first clue what; it makes it kind of hard to find a way to stop it. Besides, Faith needs more training to be ready for it."

"Excuse you? Pretty fuckin' sure I did a bang up job helpin' you out, Princess," Faith replies, offended.

"Yeah, but you're still sloppy and impulsive," Buffy points out, for the first time actually making eye contact with the dark Slayer. It obviously makes her feel a little weird so she drops her gaze automatically.

"I'll show ya sloppy, B," Faith tells her, her pride wounded. Fuck that, she may not be perfect but she_ is_ good. "C'mon," she says, standing up. "Let's spar; I'll lay smack down in a second, guaranteed."

Buffy outright snorts at that, but she doesn't get a chance to respond because Giles intervenes, "I do think it would be a good idea to watch the two of you spar now that you are both Chosen. There have never been two active Slayers at one time and there could be advantages that we have yet to know about."

"Like how I can feel her?" Faith asks, looking at Giles.

"Excuse me?"

"Buffy; I can feel her when she's near me. Like a humming or something against my skin. It gets a little stronger the closer she is. Kinda wicked, honestly," she replies, flopping back down in her chair since she knows Giles is gonna wanna investigate this before they train.

"Buffy, can you feel Faith as well?" Giles inquires, looking at the blonde Slayer. Buffy looks reluctant to answer as she folds her arms across her chest, apparently not wanting to give Faith the satisfaction of knowing it goes both ways. But after Giles prods with another, "Buffy?" she answers:

"Yes. But I'm better at tapping into it than Faith is."

"How the hell would you know?" Faith asks, annoyed by Buffy always thinking that she's better at shit than her.

"Because I was able to avoid you all day," Buffy replies flatly, still not looking at her. "If you were better at it than me, you would have found me. I know you were looking."

Well that's not fucking fair.

"Well how the hell are you tappin' into it?" Faith asks, actually more curious than annoyed at this point. If it can go deeper than what she feels right now, she wants to know how to do it.

Buffy blushes a little, still not looking at her. But she mumbles, "I'm more in touch with my emotions than you are. You're a door; I'm a window, basically."

"Well great, now that we've established Buffy and Faith have _emotional _feelings for one another," Kennedy mocks, "can we get back to discussing something _important?"_

"Fuck off, Ken; this_ is_ important," Faith snaps.

"Okay, everyone, I will say this _once,"_ Giles starts, holding out his hand to stop the forthcoming argument. He doesn't look happy. "I do not care who is sleeping with whom and if that makes any of you upset; when we are all together all of your personal problems need to be put on hold, otherwise when the next apocalypse comes around we will all surely fail. Is that understood?"

"G, you got a bunch of teenagers in one room; what the hell else did you think was gonna happen?" Faith retorts, knowing he's asking for a pretty tall order right now.

Xander raises his hand. "I have a random question that may or may not get me slapped, but I'm curious." Faith raises an eyebrow but says nothing, waiting for him to ask Giles his question. He backs up a little from Buffy, Faith, and Kennedy before he asks, "Are all Slayers gay?" Off of Buffy's disbelieving look he exclaims, "What? It's a valid question! You and Faith are both gay and Kennedy is a potential Slayer and _she's _gay; it stands to reason."

"How is this relevant?" Wesley asks, not seeing the point in discussing Slayers' sexual preferences.

"The majority of them are, yes," Giles replies, ignoring Wesley. Maybe he's just answering because he's happy Xander actually asked a question and expressed an interest in an area he's familiar with. "It's never been specifically documented as an area of importance, but there are more references to Slayers preferring women then there are of them enjoying the company of a man. I do not what the statistical average is of the potentials though."

"Wait, did being the Slayer make me gay then?" Buffy asks, looking at Giles like she doesn't know how to feel about that. "Could I be normal if I wasn't?"

"_Normal?"_ Faith repeats, offended that she just said that. "Nice, B. Real fuckin' nice."

"Right? What the fuck did you mean by _that?"_ Kennedy replies, looking offended as well.

"I didn't—" Buffy tries to protest, but falls silent rather quickly, knowing she doesn't really have an excuse for what she said. Instead she apologizes softly, "Sorry."

"I do not believe the Slayer essence made you homosexual, Buffy," Giles tells her patiently. "If I am not mistaken, sexual preference is something you are born with. Besides, there _have_ been few Slayers who have taken a preference to men, some have even birthed children."

"Yeah, but I was _born _to be a potential, right?" Buffy replies, still stuck on the fact that this could be the reason her life is so fucked up. It kind of annoys Faith.

"I don't know," Giles tells her honestly. "The Council is unable to find potentials until they are thirteen years old, at the earliest. Whether that means you aren't chosen until then or if there is some kind of block until you reach your teenage years, no one knows."

"Is this really important?" Wesley asks, growing annoyed with the conversation.

"They asked, so I should say that to them; yes, it is," Giles replies, not looking too happy by Wesley's rude interruption. "Perhaps you should begin Kennedy's training while I go over this connection Buffy and Faith have with each other."

"Good, I want to hit things," Kennedy says flatly before practically stomping into the new training room, a disgruntled Wesley following behind her.

Giles looks like he's trying to refrain from rolling his eyes, but settles back into his seat and looks at the two slayers. "So you say this connection between you has an emotional aspect as well as a physical?"

"I don't know," Buffy replies, looking a little embarrassed to be talking about this. "I just… _thought _about how much I…" but she trails off, not wanting to say it out loud. She changes her answer to, "Honestly, I just think that I'm more open to wanting to feel Faith. Unlike her, I'm not emotionally retarded. I don't think she _wants_ to feel me, which is why she only feels the minimum."

"What do you mean I don't want to feel you? I _want _to feel you, B!" Faith protests, which makes Xander snicker because of the implication that sentence had. "And hey, just because I don't run around and spew my feelings like some kind of damn poet, don't mean I'm emotionally retarded."

"No, that fact that you slept with another woman in my house when you knew I had feelings for you does," Buffy snaps.

"Girls, please," Giles tries, holding up his hand to try to stop them from bickering. "What did I ask of you not ten minutes ago?"

Neither of them listen.

"I don't even get why the fuck you'd _want _to feel me, since you're so goddamn pissed at me," Faith retorts.

"And_ I_ don't get why after you did everything in your power to screw things up, that you're now telling me you want to be more than friends! So I guess we're _both _confused," Buffy snaps. "And in case you're wondering, the reason I haven't fallen into your arms is because _I don't trust you anymore._ You're selfish and you're impulsive and I know you can't guarantee that you won't hurt me again."

"The last thing I wanna fuckin' do is hurt you, Buffy!" Faith exclaims angrily, too pissed to scale down her honesty. Then again, when she was scaling stuff back was when she screwed everything up, so maybe honesty will work better.

"And yet it's always the first thing you do. Congratulations," Buffy says dryly.

"Girls!" Giles exclaims, getting fed up. "Please_ stop_ before I have to separate you both. You're acting like immature children. If you have personal problems then fine; but keep them buried until you're not at work, because for all intents and purposes your sole job is being Slayers."

"Well I can't work with her," Faith snaps, pointing at Buffy angrily. "She won't _fucking_ let shit go!"

"If I still cry myself to sleep at night, I think I have a pretty good reason _not _to let it go, Faith!" Buffy screams. Xander clears his throat and wanders off into the kitchen, apparently deciding this conversation is beginning to get a little too personal for him to witness.

Giles sighs; he knows he's not going to get anywhere. He gets up too, not bothering to try to diffuse the fight anymore; he probably realized they needed to have it. So he exits the room and goes into the kitchen with Xander.

"I'm _sorry!"_ Faith exclaims, getting fed up of apologizing. She stands up, knowing she'll feel more in control that way. "How many times do I have to tell you that? I don't fuckin' want Kennedy, B; I want you! Why can't you get that?"

"Because this came out of left field!" Buffy replies loudly, standing up as well so she doesn't feel towered over. She points at her and goes on, "You told me we couldn't be any more than friends, Faith! _You_ said that! And now suddenly you want to be, what; my _girlfriend?"_ She says the word like it's almost ridiculous.

"Well I'm sorry I'm so fuckin' stupid that it took you having to _die_ to realize I needed you!" Faith screams, hating how raw and exposed she feels right now. She doesn't want to have this conversation here, but at least they're finally having it. Besides, her mouth seems to be on autopilot and it's as if she can't stop spewing out her feelings like word vomit.

"You don't need me," Buffy replies, outright _scoffing_ at that. "The only person you've ever needed is yourself, you've made that _really _clear!"

"Well I was wrong!" Faith shouts. "Okay? I was fuckin' wrong! And I know I'm a screw up and I know you have no goddamn reason to trust that I'm not gonna go off and fuck some other bitch, but I want to _try, _okay? I'm new at this; I don't know my head from my ass when it comes to this kind of touchy feely bullshit but at least I'm not just sitting here being all 'oh well, B's pissed so it's too much effort' and fucking _off!_ I'm standing here trying; for once in my fuckin' life Buffy, I'm _trying!"_

"No, you're not!" Buffy tells her heatedly. "You think that just because you_ say_ you want to be with me that I should ignore everything I feel and pretend it never happened? I can't do that, Faith; I _won't_ do that. You need to try _harder _than that, okay? Words are just words and right now the last thing I do is trust anything you say to me. If you really want me that badly, then prove it."

Fine.

Faith's lips are on Buffy's so fast and so quickly that the blonde loses her footing, falling back onto the couch. She squeals in surprise as Faith wastes no time getting on top of her, straddling her waist as she kisses her with every bit of damn emotion she has in her. Maybe it's the shock of it, or maybe it's that no matter how pissed Buffy is she still wants to kiss her, but she allows Faith's tongue to claim hers long enough to leave them both breathless.

"Girls, not on my furniture!" comes the voice of an embarrassed sounding Giles from the other room. He probably heard them land; it wasn't exactly graceful. And well, with the lack of screaming, that can usually only mean one thing.

Faith ignores him though as she breaks the kiss, allowing her hands to roam down Buffy's arms until she laces their fingers together. "Go on a date with me," she requests breathlessly, looking directly in Buffy's eyes. She wants her to know she's serious.

"What?" Buffy asks, sounding as if the kiss left her unable to comprehend things properly.

"Go on a date with me," Faith repeats, her breathing still a little labored as she squeezes Buffy's hands in hers. "Give me a chance to not fuck something up for once. Please?"

Buffy purses her lips, looking up at Faith through her lashes. Her expression is distrustful, yet intrigued. She's silent for a moment. "One date doesn't mean I'll sleep with you," she tells her finally. She's probably just trying to make sure Faith isn't just in it for the sex.

"I know how to masturbate, B; I'll live," Faith replies, smirking as she watches Buffy blush as she no doubt entertained that thought in her head. "C'mon… please?" She knows she's begging, but hell; she threw out her pride already so what the hell, right? "I promise it won't suck too bad."

Buffy can't help but crack a small smile at that. "Fine," she relents, looking a little shy. "One date. But that doesn't mean that I'm still not pissed at you."

That's fine; Faith's making better progress than she thought she would already. "Tomorrow night?" she asks. Buffy nods, trying to not look as happy as she obviously feels; she doesn't want to Faith to think she has an advantage. Faith grins anyway and can't help but lean in a little, giving Buffy a quick peck on the lips.

Problem is, Faith doesn't know how to plan a date night to save her life. But fuck it; improvising always works… right?

**TBC…**


	39. Date Night

**CHAPTER THIRTY NINE  
****Date Night**

"Mum, I'm fuckin' freaking out!" Faith exclaims as she bursts though the door of her mother's room, looking completely overwhelmed.

She's supposed to be picking Buffy up for their date in less than two hours and she still has no idea what the hell she's going to do. She thought about asking Xander, or maybe even Willow, but neither of them have much experience when it comes to dating and she seriously needs to _wow _Buffy if she expects her to hate her a little less come morning. She has no idea if her mother can help, but she's out of options at this point.

"What's wrong? Are you in trouble?" Caroline asks, instantly alert as she stands up, crossing the room to come over to her daughter. "Fai, what happened?"

"No, Mum, it's not… fuck," Faith replies, shaking her head. "It's nothing like that. I just… B, Buffy… I asked her out. And I'm such an _idiot_ cause I'm so fuckin' far out of my comfort zone right now and I have no clue where I'm gonna take her, what we're gonna do, what the hell I'm even gonna _wear…"_ She sighs, running her fingers through her hair. This whole thing is turning her into such a pansy _girl._ "This is a freakin' nightmare."

Caroline puts her hand over her mouth, a smile peeking out through her astonishment. Great, she's totally gonna make a big deal out of this. "Oh, _sweetie!"_ she exclaims, more happy about this than should be legal. "Your first real date! This is so _exciting!_ See, what did I tell you about that Buffy girl? I knew she would be perfect for you!"

"Yeah, great. Whatever," Faith dismisses, not really in the mood to be looked at and talked to like she's cuter than a goddamn stuffed animal. "Look, I actually need _help_ here, Mum; so can you please get past the whole proud mother thing for like two seconds before my head explodes and there _is _no date? In case you haven't noticed, I'm _freaking out_ here!"

"Okay, okay," Caroline relents, though still looks like Christmas came early. "Don't worry, dear; we'll figure out something. Come on," she tells her as she walks into Faith's room. Faith exhales a heavy breath but trudges along behind her, hoping she'll somehow find a way to pull this crap off.

As Caroline starts searching through her closet, Faith flops down on her bed. "Have you thought about that club… what's the one you like; The Blondes?" Caroline asks. Faith's pretty sure she's getting a migraine already.

"The _Bronze,"_ she corrects, "and we always fuckin' go there. I'm supposed to be wowing her, not giving her the same Friday night she always has."

"You could consider the popular dinner and a movie combo," Caroline suggests lightly, still searching through Faith's wardrobe.

"With what money?" Faith counters. "I'm the one who asked her out; I'm supposed to be the one paying for shit, here. Or so that's what TV tells me."

"Don't worry about money," Caroline tells her, yet doesn't elaborate because she pulls out the sundress she almost made Faith wear to church one time. "How about this?"

"That's so… girly," Faith complains. "I mean, can't I just wear what I'm wearing? Or is that gonna make me look like a douche because I didn't take the time to pick out the _'perfect' _outfit," she mocks the word with air quotes. "And see that's another thing – I don't know if she wants me to be the guy or not! Like, wait… is this guyish enough?" she asks, motioning to her leathers and wife beater, "or do I need to kill my fashion sense with flannel because that's gonna fuckin'_ blow_ if I gotta do that. Besides—"

"Faith!" Caroline exclaims, trying to stop her mouth from running a mile a minute. "You're rambling, honey. I understand you're nervous and that this is a huge step for you, but Buffy likes you for who you are; you don't have to change that. However, I do suggest changing out of that outfit – especially if she saw you in it already because yes, it will make you look like a douche and like you don't care enough. Girls like it when they can see you've made an effort."

Faith sighs, leaning back to lie on her bed. She stares at the ceiling. "I fucked up with her, Mum," she admits. "Like… big time. And for once in my life I'm actually trying to fix things with a chick and I just… I got no idea how. This date needs to be _huge _or she's still gonna think I'm always gonna be the asshole that hurts her."

Caroline frowns and comes over to sit next to her on the bed. "What happened?" she asks softly, looking at her daughter sympathetically. Faith sighs.

"Fucked another chick at her sleepover. She caught us."

"Faith…" Caroline starts, disapproval in her tone.

"I know, I know," Faith replies. "Trust me; I know I'm an idiot. But I didn't even think it'd really matter since we weren't actually dating, but apparently Buffy doesn't see it that way. She says I broke her heart."

Caroline frowns, looking down at Faith as she smoothed her hair away from her forehead. "Well, I think it really shows you care for her to try to fix this, Faith. I'm proud of you, no matter how many stupid decisions you may make." She gives her a light smile, to let her know she's half joking.

"Thanks, Mum," Faith replies flatly, feigning offense. But she sighs, sitting up. "Okay, I figure it this way; I want her to realize I'm actually makin' an effort, right? So as much as I hate it, think I'm gonna wear the dress. Cause, y'know, then she'd be all 'oh, she dressed up for me,' or whatever, right?" She looks to her mother for confirmation.

"That sounds like a good idea," Caroline tells her, smiling. "And since you don't want this to be a regular, everyday date, I have an idea. There's a lake not too far from here; it's romantic, secluded. You can borrow my car and I can give you directions, if you want."

"Xander's already lettin' me borrow his," Faith tells her, then pauses for a moment to think about the lake idea. She makes a face, unsure of how that's going to work out. "And I dunno… I mean what the hell are we gonna do at a lake? I don't know shit about romance, Mum. And I'm damn sure not gonna get down on one knee and serenade her or something."

Caroline looks at her patiently, albeit a little amused. "Have you ever seen the water at nighttime? It's beautiful; it'll do most of the work for you. You can lie under the stars… take a swim…"

"Well that doesn't sound totally shitty," Faith muses, thinking about it.

"And maybe afterwards if you guys are still having a good time, you can find somewhere to go dancing. But take her to a different club; mix it up a little," Caroline suggests. Faith smiles a little.

"Thanks, Mum," she says softly, grateful for her help. She would be totally fucking lost if it weren't for her right now. She's probably still gonna find a way to manage to screw this up, but maybe it won't be such a huge screw up this time.

"Here," Caroline says, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out two twenty dollar bills. "Take this; buy her a dozen roses before you pick her up. I think she'll like that."

"But Mum, you need that for your shit," Faith protests. She already took money from her once and it kicked her into withdrawal; she doesn't wanna do that again.

Caroline gives her a sad smile as she takes Faith's hand, placing the money in it and encouraging her to close her fingers around it. "No, I don't," she tells her softly, keep her hand atop of hers. "You were right; I'm a hypocrite. I can't expect for you to not screw up in your life if all you see is me doing it. I'm a shit role-model for you, Fai, and I'm sorry. So…" she takes a breath, looking a little scared as she tells her, "I'm going to try to quit. For good."

Faith stares at her for a moment, almost wondering if she heard her right. "Seriously?" she asks, her voice a broken whisper. This has been her life, every day, for as long as she can remember; her mother on drugs, Faith picking up the pieces when it went bad. She's never had a real childhood, with a Mum that was… fuck, normal. She never even thought of the possibility that it could really happen.

"Seriously," Caroline replies with a small smile. "I know it's going to… well, fucking suck for awhile; but I think it's time I stop wallowing in my own shit. We're away from your father; we're free now. It's time to start again."

Faith's never been much of an emotional person, but that right there made her choke back tears as she threw her arms around her mother's neck, holding her tight. "Fuckin' proud of you, Mum," she whispers, smiling so much that her face hurt.

Maybe things really would start to turn around. And you know what? It's about fucking time.

* * *

Faith's standing outside of Buffy's house, feeling nervous as shit. She left the roses in the car, figuring it'd probably be better if she didn't out Buffy to her mom in the process, since that would probably end up being a huge fuckfest that wouldn't help her cause in the slightest. She feels stupid in this dress; even though she knows she looks hot as hell. It's just weird though… being a girl.

Faith swallows her nerves and rings the doorbell, fidgeting a little as she hears people inside. The door is opened by Buffy's mother, who gives her a warm smile. "Faith, it's nice to see you again," she greets. "Come in, Buffy's just upstairs getting ready. I'll tell her you're here." She steps out of the way, ushering Faith inside.

"Thanks, Mrs. S," Faith replies, hoping she doesn't look as awkward as she feels. Mrs. Summers closes the door behind Faith before she makes her way up the stairs.

It only takes a minute before Buffy comes down the stairs, looking like… _damn,_ the sexiest fucking thing Faith's ever seen in her life. It ain't even what she's wearing; more her makeup and her hair. She lightly shadowed around her eyes, giving them a smoky look that made the green in her eyes look amazing. Her hair is around her shoulders, only slightly curled and a little messy in that… just fucked but still classy kind of look. Faith can't help but stare at her. She barely even notices the surprising amount cleavage Buffy is showing, cause she can't get past how fucking pretty her face is.

Buffy seems to be in the same boat though. She literally _stops _halfway down the stairs once she takes a look at Faith in her soft green dress, hair actually all done up for once (thanks to her mother). Her makeup isn't as heavy as she normally likes it and in all honesty she feels like a goddamn retard looking like this, but at least Buffy seems to like it. "Wow," Buffy says finally. "You look…" she starts, coming down the rest of the stairs as she tries to find the words, "so unlike _you."_

"Is that a good thing?" Faith asks, suddenly unsure.

"It's not a bad thing," Buffy replies, smiling softly. "I… I like whatever you wear, but it's just… _nice,_ to see you… I don't know, like this. I know you don't do this often." She sounds a little nervous as she speaks and it makes Faith feel better that she ain't the only one.

"You girls have fun!" Joyce calls from atop the stairs. Her voice has this tone that Faith's mother does when she knows more than she's saying, and it makes Faith wonder about something. She waits to mention it until they're out of the house though, so she and Buffy say goodbye to her mom before they make their way towards the car.

"B?" Faith asks as they walk down the pathway. "Does your Mum know you're… gay?"

"No, _God _no," Buffy says, shaking her head like that thought would probably make her entire existence implode.

"You sure?" Faith asks as she opens the passenger side door for her; another tip from her mother. Buffy looks surprised, but smiles as she gets in the car.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Why?"

"Cause she sounds like she knew we were goin' on a date," Faith responds before she closes Buffy's door, making her way over to the driver's side before getting in. Buffy stares at her, a look of minor panic on her face.

"She… she didn't _say _anything to you, did she?"

"Nah, just… I dunno, a vibe I got. Maybe it's nothing," Faith replies, shrugging it off as she closes her door. She doesn't want to get Buffy worked up over nothing if she doesn't actually know. "Oh," she says, remembering the flowers. She reaches into the backseat and grabs the dozen roses, handing them to Buffy. "Got these for you. Don't make a big deal outta it or nothin', just… thought ya'd like them," Faith tells her awkwardly. She can feel her face heating up and she's glad Buffy can't see her behind the large bouquet of flowers. Faith Lehane does _not _blush. What the fuck is wrong with her?

"Are you serious?" Buffy asks breathlessly, taking the flowers from her with a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Faith…" she says, looking up at her. She's smiling. "These are beautiful, thank you."

Faith shrugs and mutters something incoherent. This is so fucking embarrassing. So instead of sitting there looking like more of an idiot, she decides to put the car into drive and speeds off.

They only drive about twenty minutes until they get to the lake. The whole way there Buffy was trying to make her to tell her where they're going, but Faith kept it a secret (another one of her mother's tips). It was weird though; Buffy was obviously happy but kept trying to like, hold it in or something. And Faith gets that she has every reason to still be pissed and this isn't gonna make up for everything, but it kinda sucked to see the confliction of emotions on Buffy's face.

When Faith stops the car, Buffy looks around. "Are we here?" she asks, unsure. She's trying to look out the window to get some sort of clue as to where they are, but all she can see is trees.

"Yup," Faith replies, getting out of the car. Buffy furrows her eyebrows and gets out too, waiting as Faith grabs a bunch of stuff out of the back. "C'mon," Faith says, nodding her head at Buffy as she starts making her way down the path. Buffy raises her eyebrows but says nothing as she follows behind her.

When the trees open up and the lake comes into view, Buffy stops short. "Wow," she breathes, looking at the moon illuminating on the lake's service. She takes a couple steps forward, her eyes searching the area like it's the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. "I've lived in Sunnydale my whole life," she says, looking around, "and I can't believe I've never been here before. I didn't even know this place _existed."_

"Yeah, well; I got skills," Faith replies, smirking as she makes her way down to the bank.

"You had help," Buffy corrects, her smirk matching Faith's for calling her out. Faith looks back at her and Buffy asks, "Who?"

"My Mum," Faith admits, shrugging as she lays out a blanket, putting the rest of her stuff next to it. Buffy comes over as Faith goes on, "You know me; don't know my head from my ass with this stuff but I…" she feels stupid admitting it so she doesn't look her in the eye when she finishes, "y'know, wanted to actually do something that didn't fuck up your life for once."

"You don't fuck up my life, Faith," Buffy tells her softly as she sits next to Faith on the blanket, looking out at the water. "You just… confuse me."

"And hurt you."

Buffy looks over at the guilty look on Faith's face and gives her a sad smile. "Yeah," she says softly. Her hand covers Faith's, the warmness of her palm making the brunette's nerve endings jump beneath her skin. "Do you think that maybe we could talk… without all the screaming for once?"

Faith shrugs, looking down at Buffy's hand on top of hers. "Guess so; if that's what ya wanna do." Talking isn't exactly one of her strong suits, but this night ain't about what she wants.

Buffy nods, pursing her lips together for a moment as she looks up at the moon. "I'm sorry," she says finally. That makes Faith turn to look at her.

"For what? You're not the one who fucked up, B."

"No," she agrees softly. She shrugs lightly as she goes on, "But I expected much more than you were willing to give me at the time and I guess I just… even though we weren't dating then, I thought of you as mine. And you told me that we should just be friends and I didn't… _listen_ to you. At all. I didn't care what you wanted, I only cared about what _I_ thought would be good for both of us. But just because I think something's right for us, doesn't mean it is; nor does it mean that your opinions and feelings are irrelevant if they aren't the same as mine."

"Still doesn't give me the right to go and be a huge asshole to you," Faith replies.

"No, it doesn't. You definitely could have been a lot more aware of how I felt for you, and how your actions can affect me. You're selfish sometimes," Buffy tells her, turning her head to look at her. Faith doesn't make eye contact out of guilt.

"Yeah." Faith doesn't know what else to say besides that; there's no denying it or explaining it. She is selfish, period. She's never had to give a fuck when it came to women, she never even _cared _to. She thought of them as disposable.

"I hate what you did with Kennedy," Buffy tells her softly. "I hate even more that you had the nerve to do it at my slumber party. And I really hate that not fifteen minutes earlier, you were making out with _me._ And I know… I know you're more than sexually active, Faith, but my god; you need to learn to keep it in your fucking pants." Faith says nothing; she doesn't feel like she's got a place to. So Buffy continues, "You have every right to have sex with whoever you want – we aren't in a relationship – but don't ever do it in _my _house. And I wish I could tell you that's what I was really mad at, but it wasn't. I felt betrayed and that isn't fair to you, since you never agreed to be mine."

"Wanna be yours," Faith mumbles, then makes a face at how utterly ridiculous that sounded. Jeez, someone just shoot in her in the face and spare her the effort. "Ugh, I sound like such a douche," she groans as she flops back against the blanket, staring up at the stars while on her back. Buffy leans over, looking down at her with a slightly amused look on her face.

"Because you have _actual _feelings for someone?" she asks. She sounds like she's poking fun at her a little.

"Yes. Shit sucks; don't know how people deal with this crap all the time. Fuckin' confusing. Probably doesn't help that I'm the world's biggest dumbass either."

"You're not a dumbass."

Faith gives her a disbelieving look.

"Okay, fine, you're kind of a dumbass," Buffy revises, smirking a little as she looks down at her. Faith doesn't say anything and Buffy carefully brushes a piece of hair away from her eyes, giving her a sad smile. "I want to get caught up in all of this," she admits quietly, "but it's hard. I know you're trying, that much is obvious and you have _no _idea how happy that makes me. But…" she purses her lips a little before sighing. "I'm just having a hard time pushing all the bad stuff to the back of my mind, you know? I think it's going to take some time for me to trust that you won't hurt me again."

"I get it," Faith says, looking up at her. She shrugs lightly, "Didn't really expect everything to be fixed in a night."

"I don't want to ruin this though," Buffy tells her. "It's obvious you put a lot of effort into this, so maybe we should stop talking about this stuff and being all depressing."

Truth. As good as it is that they're actually talking without screaming at each other for once, they do need to have some fun.

Faith cocks an eyebrow. "Wanna swim?" she asks, a hint of a smirk adorning her features.

"I didn't bring a bathing suit."

"So? Ya got a bra and panties on right?" Faith asks, sitting up before she gets to her feet. "Same diff, really. C'mon," she encourages as she peels off her dress. Buffy's eyes watch her intently, a little blush forming on her cheeks as she bears witness to Faith's tiny, yet lacy underwear duo. Faith smirks as she sees Buffy look at her, her pupils dilated slightly. "Ya gonna just sit there and ogle the goodies all night or ya gonna come for a swim?"

"I… uh," Buffy stumbles, looking a little flustered as she looks away from Faith's body. "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't…"

"Checkin' me out? Kinda were," Faith replies, smirking. Hey, when she calls it; she calls it.

Buffy mumbles what sounds like an embarrassed 'shut up' as she lifts her shirt over her head, kicking off her heels. Faith does a tiny happy dance in her head as she notices that both Buffy's bra and underwear are white. Thankfully, Buffy hasn't caught up to what that's gonna mean when they're wet though, because she's folding her clothes nicely on the edge of the blanket.

When she's done, Faith doesn't give her a chance to react before she calls out, "Race ya!" as she starts running down the bank.

"Hey!" Buffy protests, taking off after her. "That's not fair!"

Faith just laughs in response before she runs into the water, diving under once she gets deep enough. When she comes up, she's automatically pulled back under as Buffy grabs her legs, successfully tripping her. Buffy's laughing when she comes up, sputtering. Damn, swallowing lake water is _not _kosher.

"That's what you get for cheating," Buffy says, a teasing smirk on her face before she bites her bottom lip, giggling a little as she pulls a leaf out of Faith's hair.

"S'Cool; already got my award for winnin' anyway," Faith leers, looking pointedly at Buffy's chest. Buffy looks down and emits a squeal of surprise at how very visible her nipples are through her bra and she crosses her arms over her chest, embarrassed. Faith laughs. "Ain't like I haven't seen 'em before, B."

"That's _different,"_ Buffy protests, her face heating up.

"How?"

"I don't know, it just is! You so did this on purpose, didn't you?" Buffy accuses, which makes Faith laugh.

"Yeah, B; I did some psychic voodoo to make you wear white underwear today, just cause I knew we were comin' here and wanted to get all Peepin' Tom on ya."

Buffy narrows her eyes at Faith's sarcasm. "Ha, ha." She moves her arms away from her chest, however sinks further down in the water, enough so Faith can no longer see her nipples. She looks far too amused by Faith's disappointed look.

"Hey! That ain't fair; I won the right to perv on you, B. Not my fault you were too slow," Faith replies, smirking at Buffy's look of mock annoyance.

"You cheated! And besides,_ I_ don't find it very fair that you can 'perv on me' when I'm not allowed the same privilege." She folds her arms across her chest and gives Faith a 'ha' look, like she just won the world's greatest argument. But c'mon, does she really think she's too shy to even the playing field? Please.

"If that's what ya want," Faith replies, reaching behind her and unhooking her bra. Buffy's eyes nearly bug out of her head once Faith slides the piece of material from her body, throwing it so it lands on shore.

"Oh," Buffy says, her voice a little out there as she stares at Faith's chest. "Uh, okay. Hi, Faith's boobs. I wasn't really expecting… _that,_ but… I'm not entirely against it."

Faith snorts. 'Not entirely against it'? She looks wicked into it, if you ask her. The way Buffy's staring at her tits is like she's trying to permanently imprint the memory into her mind. But hey, not like Faith could blame her; she does have a _fantastic_ rack.

As Faith moves closer to Buffy, she can hear the older girl's breath shallow just a little. "You remember I said we couldn't have sex, right?" she asks, eyes still not leaving Faith's breasts. Faith's wonders if she's just trying to convince herself.

"Dunno what health class you went to, B; but last I checked swimming topless ain't sex," Faith replies, laughing a little as Buffy finally looks up at her with an indignant expression on her face.

"I _know,"_ she says, putting her hands on her hips. "You just… ah," she stumbles as she finds Faith right up in her personal space, "are very close to me with your boobs."

"Well they are attached to me," Faith replies, smirking.

"So I've noticed," Buffy replies breathlessly as she finds herself getting backed up a little ways until she's pressed against a rock. Faith can hear Buffy's heart beating heavily in her chest and she watches her take a nervous breath before her hand connects with her skin; sliding over the tight muscles in Faith's stomach, then around to feel the curve of her waist. Faith wants to fucking jump her right there, but controls herself. Instead she takes one step closer, pressing her body flush against hers. Buffy seems to forget to take her next breath.

"Wanna kiss you, B," Faith tells her, voice low and husky as her eyes search hers for any sign of resistance. She's never really asked for permission before, but she figures it'll win her more points if she does. Buffy looks nervous, but she doesn't look against the idea of a make out session either.

"Okay…" she breathes, her fingers tightening on Faith's waist.

The brunette doesn't hesitate for a second and she collides her lips to Buffy's, prompting the girl beneath her to elicit a quiet whimper. For all of her nervousness, Buffy wastes no time sliding her hand up and cupping one of Faith's breasts, her other arm wrapping around her neck as her fingers slide through her wet hair. She parts her lips and Faith slides her tongue in her mouth, milking another whimper from the blonde as her fingers toy with the hem of Buffy's underwear.

Their teeth clash together the more into it they get; kissing each other with enough bruising passion that Faith's panties grow damp for a completely different reason other than the lake they're standing in. Faith groans against Buffy's lips as she gets bold, rolling one of her nipples between her fingertips. It takes every inch of will power Faith has to not just shove her hand down Buffy's underwear; so instead she bites gently at her bottom lip as her own hands take the initiative to push Buffy's bra up, enveloping her tiny breasts in her hands. Buffy's breathing shallows significantly from Faith's touch and she pushes her pelvis into her, a moan leaving her lips as her grip tightens in Faith's hair.

"Faith," she breathes against her lips, voice heavy with desire, "Can I…?"

"You can do whatever ya want," Faith tells her breathlessly, not caring in the slightest what Buffy wants to do; she just knows she wants her to do it. Hell, she could spank her with a tree branch and demand she call her "mistress" for all she gives a fuck right now. She's down for anything she can get.

Buffy gives Faith another bruising kiss before she dips her head down, hesitating for only a moment before she wraps her lips around one of her nipples. Faith groans and tangles her fingers in Buffy's hair, silently encouraging her. She wishes she had something, _anything _that could provide friction against her throbbing clit. She has half a mind to just stick her hand down there and fuck herself while she's doing the whole second base thing with Buffy, but that might freak her out a little. It sucks, but Faith is attempting to remind herself that for all intents and purposes, Buffy's still kind of a virgin; at least when it comes to this shit. If she starts screwing herself in front of her on the first date it might be a little too much for her to handle.

God, she is gonna fuck herself _so_ hard when she gets home tonight though.

Faith's always been more of a giver than a receiver, so it doesn't take long before she's grabbing Buffy's wrists, pushing her back and pinning her against the rock face. Buffy moans as Faith's lips assault her neck, their breasts pushed together. Faith presses her thigh against Buffy's core, feeling the heat even through the cool water. Buffy gasps as Faith's teeth sink into her neck; not hard, but hard enough to make a point. "Faith," she breathes, eyes closed and looking completely sexy as the submissive.

Faith exhales a hot breath against her ear that makes Buffy shiver. As her hands continue to tease Buffy's hardened nipples, she breathes heavily into her ear, "You're the sexiest fuckin' thing I've ever seen, B."

Buffy bites her bottom lip at that before turning her head, crashing their lips together in another passionate kiss. Her tongue fights for the dominance that she already knows Faith has, and with one more firm push of Faith's thigh against her hot core she gasps, "Fuck!" It's pretty much the hottest word Faith's ever heard come out of her mouth, but then comes the next breathy sigh of, "Oh, Faith…" and suddenly _that _wins the award.

God, it makes Faith want to fuck her so hard that she can't walk straight in the morning. It makes her want to stick her tongue so far up her cunt that she cums a river in her mouth. It makes her want to… _damnit._

Suddenly Faith's off of Buffy, breathless and looking like she's on the verge of exploding. "We gotta stop, B," she tells her, hating every single word that comes out of her mouth. Buffy looks confused as she stares at Faith, probably wondering what the hell has gotten into her.

"What? _Why?"_ She doesn't look entirely happy with that plan. Hell, neither is Faith.

"Cause ya said you didn't wanna fuck me tonight and I swear to God I'm two seconds away from not caring what you want," Faith tells her honestly, looking and feeling like a horny disaster on speed. Buffy stares at her for a moment, mostly in disbelief.

"You… uh, that's… surprisingly respectful of you," Buffy says, like she can't believe that just happened. Neither can Faith. Maybe becoming a Slayer broke her brain.

"Yeah, well," Faith replies, but doesn't elaborate more than that as she turns to get out of the water. She needs to calm herself down.

Buffy seems to sense she needs space, so she stays in the water for a little while until Faith stops her pacing and erratic movements and settles back down on the blanket, lying on her back and looking up at the stars. Buffy gets out of the water then, coming over to her. "Can I lay with you, or do you still need space?" she asks, looking down at her.

Faith takes a breath, but shrugs. "S'Cool if ya wanna; just watch your hands."

Buffy smirks, but settles down next to her, laying her head on Faith's shoulder. Faith's never really _cuddled,_ but it didn't entirely suck. She was still horny as fuck so it was a little uncomfortable, but not unmanageable. She wraps her arm around Buffy before sliding her fingers through her hair, praying to whoever's listening that Buffy will adhere to the three date rule at least. She's seen that shit on TV so it better fucking work; she doesn't know how much more teasing she can take.

"Faith?" Buffy asks quietly, jolting Faith from her perverted prayers.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," Buffy says, propping herself up on her forearm to look down at the girl beneath her. She gives her a small smile. "You've been really amazing tonight, and I know most of it hasn't been easy for you since you've never done something like this before. But I want you to know that I… I really appreciate it." She smirks as she admits a little begrudgingly, "And you_ may_ have earned a lot of points back because of this night."

Faith can't help but smile at that; fucking score one for the slutty Slayer.

"It's not perfect," Buffy tells her pointedly, needing her to know everything isn't all rainbows and sunshine yet, "Us, I mean; but if you keep being this amazing then I'm sure I'll be able to completely forgive you in time, maybe even sooner than I thought." She gives her a small smile, her hand caressing Faith's cheek before she leans down, placing a sweet, yet brief kiss on her lips.

And for once in Faith's life, she knows she finally did something right.

**TBC…**


	40. Girlfriend?

**CHAPTER FORTY  
****Girlfriend?**

"I need to talk to you."

The way Faith grabs Willow is practically bordering on manhandling in her nervous desperation; pulling her away from her locker and making the redhead emit a tiny squeak from surprise as she drags her into an empty classroom. But she doesn't want to be overheard by anyone, since her 'bad girl' image has already been shattered in the span of one night, it seemed. No need to make it any worse.

"Sorry," Faith apologizes as she lets her go, realizing how hard she was pulling her from the look of discomfort on Willow's face. "I just… uh, did B say anything about me?" She knew out of anyone, Buffy would say something to her; they were the closest.

Whatever Willow was expecting, it didn't seem to be that. Her face turns from one of disbelief to one of amusement relatively quickly and Faith wants to bang her head against a wall. _Christ, Lehane; way to sound wicked needy. _Already this isn't going well and it's making her feel like an idiot for even indulging in this juvenile, high school crush-like behavior. This isn't who she is; she's not supposed to _care._ And hell, if she does care, she damn well isn't supposed to act like she does. She's supposed to be the cool and collected one, bordering on complete nonchalance about the whole matter. Except she isn't. She's kind of far from that, actually.

God, she's actually turning into a fucking girl. Someone shoot her.

"Nevermind," Faith revises, feeling more stupid after each passing moment. "Forget I asked, I plead temporary insanity. It's the coffee I had this morning; shit makes me act weird." She tries to pass it off as nothing, though knows Willow can see through her bullshit. She attempts to make it out the door, maybe to save her own sanity as well as her image, but only gets a couple steps because the words that come out of Willow's mouth make her stop short.

"I talked to her." Faith turns around without much of a second thought, though instantly regrets doing it because now she's only proving that she_ is_ needy. God, she's turning into a pathetic pile of mush; this is ridiculous. "L-Last night, after your date; she called," Willow finishes, looking at Faith with an expression Faith hadn't seen in a while: that I-wanna-study-you-for-my-psychology-class expression. Fuck. That means she really is acting outside of the norm if Willow's getting interested in her behavior.

Faith tries to do the casual thing and leans against the wall, folding her arms across her chest to appear less anxious than she really is about maybe being allowed a glimpse into the inner workings of Buffy's mind. "And?" she asks, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"And she loved the date," Willow told her, watching her closely to gauge her reaction. "B-But she's really confused." While the first part made Faith irrationally happy – like the kind that makes you wanna dance and make a fucking fool out of yourself in the process – the second part made her frown a little.

"Why is she confused?" Faith asks. She had thought she made her intentions pretty damn clear. Hell, subtle has never been part of Faith's vocabulary when it came to anything; which, unfortunately, is making itself clear at this very moment. No matter how bad she wants to be all 'whatever' about the whole thing, she obviously can't be.

Willow gives her a look like she should already know the answer, yet spells it out for her anyway. "Because you went from 'I don't do relationships' girl to 'the best date she's ever had' in the span of a week," Willow tells her. "T-That's what she said."

"Maybe I'm an extremist."

Understatement.

"Maybe," Willow agrees, still peering at Faith like she wants to peel away her layers. "Or maybe you're just scared."

"Of _what?"_ Faith asks, never one to be fond of being called the S word. Not that she's stupid enough to think she's never been scared of anything, since that'd be a damn fucking lie, but it's not like she needs everyone to know that she has weaknesses either.

"Of losing her again," Willow tells her. "Y-You had to bring her back to life, Faith. That's kind of a scary thing. I think when she died you realized how much you cared for her and are afraid that if you don't do something about that now, you might miss your chance. I think… w-well I think you finally realized how short a Slayer's life expectancy is." Willow says the last part in a low voice, a look of pain crossing her face at the thought of two of her friends dying young.

Faith stares at her. Sometimes she hates how incredibly perceptive Willow is, but she's right regardless. She's fucking terrified that not only Buffy, but _she's _gonna end up dying without… fuck, having all those stupid life experiences you're supposed to have when you're young. As far as her life goes, most of it has been pretty shit. Faith kind of wants some good shit before she goes out in a blaze of bad ass Slayer glory. Ain't too much to ask, right?

"Well why doesn't she get that?" Faith asks finally, uncrossing her arms to shove her hands in her pockets, a sure sign that she's becoming a little self-conscience.

"Because no one's explained it to her," Willow tells her pointedly. Faith frowns; she doesn't wanna be the one to bring up the ever depressing death scene. In fact, Faith's pretty sure she wants to keep that night as far away from her mind as possible.

Faith sighs. "Don't wanna talk about that night. Shit's fuckin' depressing, Red." She shrugs, "Besides, I figure if I keep doin' what I'm doin'; the whole not screwing up thing, then there'll be wedding bells in no time." Off of Willow's wide eyed, oh-my-god-is-Faith-under-some-kind-of-spell look, the brunette explains, "That was a _joke._ Not gonna marry her, dude. I'm sixteen." No one ever gets her sense of humor anymore.

"Oh," Willow says, looking a little foolish. "I-I knew that. Yeah."

"Look, I just meant I'm doing pretty alright on my own right now, without havin' to bring up that whole fuckfest. Kinda want to keep it that way. And if B's confused then whatever, but eventually she'll get that I actually wanna try to do this thing with her for real."

Willow looks at her; another studying look that makes Faith feel a little uncomfortable. "You really want to be with her?" she asks, like part of her still doesn't believe it.

Faith shrugs. "Yeah, guess so."

"'Guess so' isn't really good enough, Faith. She really likes you, a-and part of her is scared that you're going to hurt her again. If you're not sure, then don't lead her on."

"I'm not leadin' her on, Red. I really… fuck, I dunno, I actually really give a shit, okay?" Faith admits, feeling uncomfortable with this whole 'bare her soul' moment. "Wouldn't have asked her out if I didn't. And I know it's fucked cause I've always been the bitch who doesn't care; but I actually do, for once. Never really had a chick of my own, y'know? Not for more than a night anyway, and even though I'm pretty damn convinced I'm gonna somehow screw this up, I still wanna try. I like her."

"Please don't screw it up," Willow requests. "Buffy's the best thing that's ever happened to you." Off of Faith's skeptical look she explains, "A life without love is really unsatisfying, Faith; a-and she's the one who's opened you up to it."

"Okay, whoa, hold up," Faith exclaims, holding up her hand to stop Willow before she inadvertently causes her a migraine. "I ain't in love with her. This just a… I dunno, a thing, okay? A feelings thing, but definitely not a love thing."

Love is _way_ too strong a word and in all honesty kinda makes Faith feel nauseous. She's already freaked about what's going on between her and Buffy, but she's dealing. If love came into the equation though? Fuck that, Faith doesn't think she'd be able to deal with something like that. That's like… fucking _real._ Like 'in your face, kick your ass' kind of real. She's too young for that kind of shit.

Willow gives her a patient look. "I didn't say you loved her, only that now you're more open to the idea. Before you wouldn't even consider caring for someone, let alone be with them in… w-well, a semi-serious kind of way."

Okay, well that's the truth at least; Buffy was a lot of firsts for her. Faith goes to respond, but it's drowned out by the sound of the bell. Fuck, class. Faith can't wait until the end of the school year but that, unfortunately, was still a long time off.

* * *

Hours later, Faith found herself at Giles' sparring with Buffy in his newly decorated training room. They have been going at it for at least twenty minutes now and Faith has barely worked up a sweat, when a week ago she would be dripping by now. She's gotta admit; being a Slayer doesn't suck. She knows Buffy isn't completely into the sparring though and Faith sighs in annoyance. How the hell is she supposed to get better if Buffy keeps hitting her like a damn _girl?_

"B, quit pulling your punches!" Faith complains once Giles signals for them to take a break. She holds out her arms like 'what the fuck' and Buffy shoots her an annoyed look of her own.

"Look, it's not _my _fault I've spent months overly aware that I have to hit you softer so I don't break your face and leave you deformed," Buffy retorts. "It's a habit. Besides, it's not like you're hitting me at full strength either!"

"Well I ain't gonna start beatin' the crap out of you if ya ain't gonna fight back," Faith rationalizes. "Then you'd be pissed and I'd be a dick, and I've been trying out a different lifestyle lately." She shoots her a sarcastic look and Buffy rolls her eyes. All this hot and sweaty stuff has made them both a little on edge. Faith wants to say fuck training and take her right here on the floor and it looks like Buffy's been having the same urges because she keeps fidgeting and trying to not look at Faith's breasts.

"Girls, please," Giles interrupts, needing them to pay attention for once. "Buffy, you need to not be afraid of hurting Faith anymore; she's a Slayer, just like yourself. Faith, if you had hit Buffy with your full strength without worrying that she may get angry with you, she would have hit you back at full strength in retaliation and we wouldn't even be _having _this discussion right now." He looks at them both pointedly. "This is _training,_ girls; not a tea party—"

"Crap, I think I broke a nail!" Buffy interrupts, looking at said nail like the world's about to end. Faith smirks and Giles sighs heavily. Buffy holds her hand up in front of her face, inspecting the damage and frowning. "Damnit, now my entire left hand is going to be uneven."

"And that would be tragic," Faith says, trying to not let her sarcasm or amusement slip out that much between her words. She fails miserably and Buffy glares at her.

"This is important, _thank you."_

"It's not important," Giles tells her, which earns a scoff from the blonde. He ignores it and gets back to business, "Buffy, you keep dropping your right shoulder, which is leaving you wide open for an attack. Faith, you haven't been taking that opportunity; you need to be more perceptive of your opponent's weaknesses." He looks at the two of them before he instructs, "Again."

Buffy and Faith roll their eyes simultaneously before they step back, getting into a defensive stance as they square off for the second time. They stare at each other intently as they slowly move in a circle, trying to find an opening for attack. Or, well, at least it started that way. Soon Faith found herself watching a bead of sweat disappear into her cleavage, and Buffy seemed too distracted by how tight Faith's shorts were. Neither of them realize how long they've been circling each other until Giles clears his throat.

"Girls, you can't be scared of hurting one another if you ever expect to be properly trained."

"They look more like they're scared to touch each other because they'd end up ripping their clothes off," Xander interrupts in amusement, watching from the doorway. That makes Buffy turn to look at him indignantly.

"Xander!" she exclaims, not believing that he just said that out loud and in front of _Giles._

But that gives Faith an opening and hey, that's what Giles told her to look for, right? Her punch connects with Buffy's jaw, who looks both surprised and angry as she stumbles back a few steps. Faith smirks, but it's short lived.

"OW! Faith, that's not _fair!"_ she exclaims before she tackles her like a frigging linebacker juiced up on steroids. Faith lets out an undignified squawk as they both topple over on to the mats. What follows after that Faith would like to pretend is some bad ass fighting, except in reality they end up rolling around like a bunch of uncoordinated, amateur wrestlers on the ground.

Giles puts a hand over his face, sighing in exasperation. "I'm going to go pour myself a cup of tea," he informs them, giving up for the moment. The two Slayers are barely listening though and Giles turns, walking from the room to leave them to their immaturity.

"That's my fuckin' hair!"

"Serves you right!" Buffy exclaims, tugging more firmly on Faith's mane as she attempts to at least end up on top of this little escapade. But Faith grabs her wrist, pressing down on a certain area that makes Buffy cry out in surprise as her fingers automatically loosen their grip on Faith's hair. The brunette has her pinned in seconds flat, grinning in victory as she looks down at her.

"Don't ever touch my hair, B."

"Where did you _learn _that?" Buffy asks, out of breath as she stares up at her, wondering how she managed to make her loosen her grip like that. Faith just smirks, shrugging lightly.

"TV," she answers. "Well, and I did some trial and error on Xander; cause y'know, TV can get their shit wrong sometimes."

"I am not your pressure points guinea pig!" Xander reminds her in a tone that's half teasing, half lecturing before he turns from the doorway, heading back into Giles' living room. Faith chuckles.

It only takes a moment before she's aware that they're the only ones left in the training room. She smirks, looking down at Buffy who's still pinned to the floor, completely at her mercy. God, the things she wishes she could do to her right now. And believe her; she has some damn fucking creative scenarios running through her mind at the moment, some of which actively include a few pieces of Giles' training equipment. She could do shit to Buffy that would make her toes curl and her hairs stand on end but _no_ they have to be all… virginal and annoying and _fuck,_ Buffy looks good enough to eat right now.

Buffy seems to recognize that look in Faith's eyes and her breath shallows a little. She looks a little nervous as she asks, "Are you going to let me up?"

"No," Faith tells her simply, biting her lower lip for a moment before she informs her, "Submissive looks good on you, B; we should do this more often." She rolls her hips into Buffy's, making her emit a quiet groan as her eyes flutter shut for just a second.

It seems to take Buffy a moment to collect herself before she attempts rationalization, "Faith, we don't have time for bondage fun right now. We're supposed to be training—"

"This ain't bondage, Twinkie; but I'm not opposed to tying you up later," Faith responds in a husky voice that makes Buffy gulp and her cheeks turn a rosy hue. She looks a mess; somewhere between turned on beyond all sane thought and a nervous wreck. Faith doesn't get why, cause didn't they just make out topless last night? C'mon now. Besides, she's just flirting… right now anyway.

Faith slides her body against Buffy's, pressing their breasts together as she gets her face unbelievably closer to hers. "Go out with me again," she requests in a soft voice, her lips just barely tickling Buffy's with how close they were.

"Um, I… uhh, okay…" Buffy stumbles, apparently not in the right frame of mind for coherent thoughts.

"Tonight," Faith requests. That makes Buffy pay attention, at least for a second. She stops staring at Faith's lips and instead chooses to look her in the eyes.

"But we just went out last night."

"Yeah, well; tryin' to get to that third date as quick as I can," Faith replies, smirking as she watches Buffy trying to process that and understand what that means.

"What?" she asks, seemingly confused. Then the meaning of the statement seems to hit her all at once and her eyes go wide. "Oh. _Oh._ You… oh," she stutters, looking a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Uhh…"

"Problem?" Faith asks, hoping to god there_ isn't_ a problem with that plan of action, but by the look on Buffy's face there obviously is. Christ, is she ever gonna get laid? In a month her muscles in her right arm are gonna start to look bulgy from all the self-servicing and it'll be awkward.

"It's not that I don't… _want _to have sex with you," Buffy tells her, looking a little embarrassed to be talking about this. "But we've been dating for two days, Faith. Don't you think that's a little fast?"

"No."

Two days is one more day than it usually takes for her, thank you.

"Well it is for me," Buffy tells her, looking at her a little regrettably. "Besides, I haven't… gotten over my trust issues with you yet, and this is kind of like 'virginity: the sequel' for me, you know? I haven't ever…" she trails off, her blush deepening a little. "I just… I want to be _sure _when we finally… you know."

Faith sighs and gets off of her, rolling over to lie flat on her back on the mat, looking up at the ceiling. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?" she asks dramatically. Buffy looks a little amused by that and rolls over, propping herself up on one elbow as she looks down at her.

"No, I'm not," she replies, an amused smile on her face. "Besides, don't you think like… setting a specific _time _to do it would, I don't know, cause performance anxiety?"

"Not a guy, B; ain't like I gotta worry about gettin' it up or anything."

"Still," Buffy says, looking down at her, "I think it would be better if we just… leave it up to the moment. Spontaneity is much sexier than a set schedule, right?" She bites her bottom lip, hoping Faith will understand her side of things.

"Sex is sex, Buffy," Faith tells her. "Don't matter if ya plan it or anything else; still gonna end in some wicked orgasms either way."

"Well planning it would make me nervous," Buffy tells her honestly. She purses her lips for a moment before she leans down, giving Faith a soft kiss on the cheek. "I promise it'll happen, you just need to have some patience."

Great. _Patience._ Because Faith has always had an abundance of that. Except… no wait, she _hasn't._ Christ. She's gonna die from chronic masturbating syndrome, watch.

It's a real thing; don't look at her like that. She heard from this guy who knew a girl who had a cousin who used to have this friend that died from jackin' off too much. It's just not healthy, period.

"Yeah, sure; patience is my middle name," Faith responds, completely unenthused by the prospect of _waiting._ Buffy giggles; but then again, she's always found immense amusement in Faith's sexual frustration it seems.

"I'd still like to go out with you tonight, if you want," Buffy says, peering down at her and smirking a little at Faith's grumpy face. "After patrol, maybe we could hit the Bronze? I know you like to dance."

Faith makes an undistinguishable noise as a response.

"Aww, come on; you can't be grumpy with me forever," Buffy prods, poking Faith's side in this annoyingly repetitive way. Faith grabs her hand to still it and Buffy smirks. "Come on, not being able to have sex isn't the end of the world."

"Yes it is," Faith tells her flatly. That one statement makes Buffy's eyes soften in sadness.

"Is that really all this is then?" she asks, voice quiet and full of dread as she realizes that Faith might really only want what's under her skirt. The tone in her voice makes Faith sit up immediately; she sounds so incredibly _crushed._

"No," she tells her, now feeling like a jackass. "No, B, that's not…" Faith sighs, running her fingers through her hair. "Sorry, I just… I don't know, I'm used to a lot of sex I guess. That doesn't mean that's all I want from you, Buffy. I actually, y'know…_ like_ you and shit." She places her hand over the one Buffy has on the mat and she leans in, kissing her firmly on the lips before she pulls back, looking into her eyes as she tells her, "I swear."

Buffy purses her lips, but still looks a little wary. She relents with a quiet, "Okay," though, which doesn't actually sound very much like an 'okay' to Faith.

"B," Faith says seriously before she leans in, kissing her again. "I," another kiss, "fucking," another kiss, this time earning a small giggle from Buffy, "like," one last kiss, "you." She pulls back and looks at her before she asks, "Okay? This ain't some kind of elaborate plot to get in your panties. You should know by now I ain't skilled enough in manipulation to pull that kind of crap off. Just kinda impatient about it I guess cause, y'know, I _do _like sex and everyone always says ya get it nonstop when you got a girlfriend. But that don't mean that's all I like you for. I mean, come on; I like you _now_ and I still ain't seen what you're workin' with, let alone have been able to do anything with it." She smirks, prompting a small smile from Buffy.

"Girlfriend?" Buffy asks, wondering if she heard Faith right. She's got this hopeful look on her face that makes Faith's heart beat increase.

The brunette shrugs, trying to play it off. "Well, I figured you'd rather be called that then 'my bitch', but hey; if you like that better…" She's teasing her and for once it's actually well received.

"Shut up," Buffy replies, laughing a little as she pushes her back lightly with one hand. "Don't you dare." Faith laughs a little and Buffy looks at her, trying to contain the smile on her face but failing miserably. "You really want to do this?" she asks. "Be… exclusive? I mean, isn't this a little… soon for you?"

She had a point.

And jeez, _exclusive;_ big fucking word. Smaller than 'monogamous,' but still big in theory. Same thing, really. Fuck. Can she really do this? Does she _want_ to do this?

Faith remembers what Willow said about her being scared she was going to lose Buffy again. And she was… _so _fucking scared about that. So yeah, she's gotta try; cause with the life they lead, there may not be a second chance. It freaks her out, this whole… commitment, but isn't everything that's good a little scary at first?

She swears she's heard that somewhere. Probably in a freaking commercial or something ridiculous, but still; it had a point. At least she hopes.

"Every time I fuck around on ya I get in trouble, whether we're exclusive or not. Might as well have the label," Faith replies finally, shrugging a little self-consciously. "So maybe this time I'll remember not to be a douche, cause I got a girl waitin' for me."

Buffy smiles lightly before she leans in, pressing her lips to Faith's in a soft kiss. When they break she tells her in a whisper, "I'd like to be your girl, if you want me."

"I want ya, B," Faith replies, meaning every word on many different levels. Buffy smiles against her lips before they're kissing again, Faith gently encouraging Buffy to lie on her back while she performs her first duty of being her girlfriend: making out with her at every possible moment.

It isn't sex by any means, but you know what? It's a damn fucking good start and Faith can't find it in her to complain.

**TBC…**


	41. H&H

**CHAPTER FORTY ONE  
****H&H**

It's fucking ridiculous how much slaying makes Faith hungry and horny.

At first she figured it was just a fluke; like she hadn't eaten dinner yet and she was watching Buffy kick ass, so who wouldn't want to scarf down a cheeseburger and then fuck their girl into the waking hours of the morning? However as the weeks wore on, Giles began to insist that they work separately; cover more ground. Sunnydale did have twelve cemeteries, after all. Faith was still being chaperoned far more than Buffy was, since she was the new bitch on the Slayer block, but tonight was the first night he let her go out alone.

And holy _fuck _did she kick some ass. She even got to bag some nasty demon fucker that was like seven feet tall and smelled strangely of bacon grease. She was sore, she was tired, but at the end of the day she had a huge ass smile on her face as she walked to her motel room, grabbing a half a dozen burgers from the Doublemeat Palace on the way.

As Faith makes her way down the cement sidewalk, she happily munches on her burgers. In all honesty, her appetite has been _insane_ lately. It's like the more food she shovels into her mouth, the faster her body digests it and she's hungry again. It's strange though; she's never seen Buffy eat that much... ever. Like, she's seen her munch on crackers and shit or eat an apple, but not much else.

Faith thought it might have been just her, but then she began to notice how Buffy would make sure no one was actually _around _when she ate anything besides a snack. She's probably just embarrassed about it or something, but fuck; what's there to be embarrassed about? Most people would kill to be able to eat whatever the hell they wanted and still look this good.

This H&H thing every night though is kinda killing her. It's been three weeks since she and Buffy first started dating and the closest they had got to fucking was Faith brushing her fingertips over Buffy's underwear-clad clit before the girl nearly had a heart attack. To be fair, they were in the Bronze in front of a ton of people at the time, but still. Patience is one thing, but this is _torture._

Faith often wondered how Buffy could stand it, cause she couldn't be the only one feeling this shit, right? This didn't start happening until she became a Slayer. But either Buffy didn't feel it or she had learned to be incredibly poised about the whole thing. It was frustrating; Faith wanted to be fucking like rabbits in heat right about now, but the only action she's been getting lately was with her right hand.

Things were still a little off between them though. While Buffy was starting to become closer to her, there was still some obvious distance between them, especially when Kennedy was around. Buffy was still royally pissed at her, which always tended to cause some sniping while they were all training. However, Kennedy did apologize to Faith about a week ago, admitting that she was a little jealous and that she was sorry she had been 'such a bitch lately'; her words. So they went out to the Bronze, just the two of them one night, and Faith helped her hook up with some hot bitch so she could do the whole rebound thing, or whatever it was. Kennedy _was_ cool, at least when they weren't yelling at each other, so Faith was happy that they found some sort of middle ground.

Not that she's told Buffy that though. Faith isn't sure how Buffy would feel about her going out for a night with Kennedy, even if they did go as just friends. Better safe than sorry, so Faith never brought it up to her.

Outside of that whole drama though, things had been progressing pretty damn good. Faith had taken her on a couple dates already and while none of them were ever 'perfect', she came pretty damn close, if you ask her. Well, as close as she could get anyway, which was somewhere north of 'mediocre.' Regardless, Faith found it didn't suck so much to be tied down. Buffy was a cool chick, so it could be worse, she figures.

School was weird though. Faith's never been one to show emotion or mushiness (translation: weakness) in public, so she kinda distances herself from Buffy while she's there to save her rep. They got into it over that a couple days ago, but c'mon… baby steps, right? Faith already feels like she's flying headfirst into a brick wall with how fast they've gone with this whole girlfriend thing, the least Buffy could do was allow her some time to get used to being that way in front of everyone who's supposed to be scared of her.

Buffy agreed, though reluctantly. She still doesn't seem entirely thrilled by it.

As Faith walks into her hotel room, she throws her battle axe on the floor (a gift from Giles – pretty much the coolest fucking thing ever) and flops down on her bed as she begins to take off her shoes. Her body's humming with the affects from her earlier slays and now that her hunger's been taking care of, she knows it's time to take care of that other H.

Before she does that however, she finds herself crossing the room barefoot, making her way over to her mother's door. She needs to check on her. Though Caroline has been doing relatively well with trying to come off of blow, she frequently has night sweats and high fevers. It's diminished slightly this week though and when Faith peeks her head into the room, she finds her mother fast asleep in her bed, looking relatively healthy. Breathing a sigh of relief, Faith slips back into her room. It's been a bit touch and go lately, but they've been getting through it.

Honestly, seeing her Mum really fucking_ try_ for once made Faith really proud. She knows it's hard, it's hard as hell, but she's doing it. Like honest to God fucking _doing_ it.

Faith would like to be able to say the same thing, that she's quit alcohol and hasn't done it since her mother banned her, but that'd be a lie. She didn't drink as often, but she still does it when she can. But fuck it; she's a teenager. She's got a shit ton of years down the road before it actually becomes a full blown problem.

Faith begins to strip off her clothing, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment as she stares at the phone on the bedside table. She wants to call Buffy, but it's late; like wicked fucking late. If she wakes up Buffy's mom, she's gonna be pissed. But she hasn't seen her all day and she's horny as fuck and she just wants to… whatever, hear her voice or something? She doesn't mean that as girly as it sounds.

Once Faith's naked, she climbs into bed and grabs the phone off of the receiver, pausing for a moment before her fingers hit the buttons. God, she hopes Buffy's actually home right now; she was out Slaying over at Oak Hill earlier. That place has a nasty habit of being filled with vamps, but knowing Buffy she probably staked their asses with time to spare. Maybe her pussy is overriding her good sense, but Faith finds herself dialing Buffy's number without any more hesitation.

It only rings once. "Hello?" Buffy answers in a whisper, sounding both annoyed and confused at someone calling at this time of night.

"Hey," Faith replies as she settles back against her pillows, running her hand lightly over her stomach. She's grinning ear to ear; she totally needed this. The way she figures it, she'll talk to Buffy for a bit and then when they hang up she can fuck herself, having a better sense of how Buffy will sound when they finally get down to doing the dirty.

Easier to imagine it when she's just been speaking to her, Faith found.

"Faith, it's three thirty in the morning," Buffy responds, sounding a little miffed.

Faith hesitates for only a second as she tries to figure out what could get Buffy to stay on the phone. "I know. Just… wanted to hear your voice," Faith replies. She heard that line in a movie once and the chick swooned. Buffy seems to be no different.

"Really?" Buffy asks. Faith can hear the smile in her voice. Score.

"What are you wearin'?" Faith asks, then immediately slaps herself on the forehead as she realizes what just came out of her mouth. "I mean, what are you doin'?" she corrects herself quickly. While having phone sex with Buffy would be great, Faith's pretty sure Buffy isn't up to that point in their relationship yet. She's barely even acknowledged that she masturbates.

Faith can hear Buffy snort lightly in amusement, but she answers, "I'm sitting on my bed, eating a yogurt." She pauses for a moment before she tells her, sounding far too amused by this than should be legal, "And I'm wearing my robe, if you must know."

Uggfff.

Faith tries like hell not to voice that actual sound out loud and there's a noticeable pause as her brain mentally undresses Buffy from that robe. It's surprising though; Buffy indulging in her curiosity. Faith never thought she would. So, because she's Faith, she tries to push it a little further. "Ya got anything on under that robe?"

Buffy emits a shy giggle, but tries to play coy. "You'll just have to use your imagination."

"Oh, trust me; I _am,"_ Faith tells her, voice coming out in almost a feral growl. Shit, she wasn't actually expecting Buffy to flirt back with her like this. Maybe H&H really does affect her; she's just shyer about it.

She doesn't know what the fuck's going on with that yogurt nonsense though. Girl's probably eating a whole pizza and lying about it.

There's a distinct pause for a moment before Buffy's curiosity apparently gets the best of her. "What are _you _wearing?" she asks. Faith smirks.

"Nothin'."

Buffy stumbles over that for a moment, like she isn't sure she heard her correctly. "Nothing? As in… nothingness? Non-existence of any clothing at all?" Her voice gets a little higher after each word she speaks and Faith tries like hell not to laugh.

"Yeah, B. Nothin', as in I'm sitting here talkin' to you buck naked."

There's a very long pause after that.

"Oh," Buffy finally says, her voice coming out as nothing more than a breathy whisper now. She's obviously entertaining that thought in her head. "Oh, I… okay. Uh…"

"I sleep that way," Faith explains, hoping that it'll calm Buffy's nerves down some if she knows she ain't just naked cause she's on the phone with her.

"Oh!" Buffy exclaims, much too enthusiastic about this revelation. "I knew that, yeah. Duh. Because, you know, clothes are… _bad_… and everything…" she trails off and Faith doesn't have to see her to know she winced at how that came out. It did sound kinda awkward. "I mean, not _bad,_ obviously," Buffy tries to explain, attempting to cover up the awkwardness with an even more awkward explanation, "just, uncomfortable! To sleep in, you know, because of all the… uh, material. Yeah."

Faith can't hold it in any longer: she laughs. "Just take a breath, B," she advises, which prompts Buffy to mumble something that sounds a lot like an embarrassed 'shut up.'

There's another long pause after that, but Faith is determined to keep the flirting going as it's driving her libido forward. "Kinda wish you were here right now…" she tells her, fingers slightly teasing her nipples.

"Only kind of?" Buffy asks softly, her voice shy. Faith bites her lower lip, smirking a bit.

"More than kind of. Wanna see you in that robe," she tells her, voice low as she continues to tweak her nipples, pulling on them just hard enough to emit sparks that shoot right down to her center. She purses her lips and cradles the phone to ear before she finishes softly, "Kinda want to take the robe off of ya, actually…"

Faith can hear Buffy's breathing shallow for a second, followed by silence. She finally asks, "Wait, are we having phone sex?"

Leave it to Buffy to ask that.

Faith can't help but chuckle a little. "Not gonna lie; was kinda tryin'." The long pause that follows that makes Faith's hand still on her breast, realizing that she's probably pushing Buffy too far. "You freaking?" she asks.

"A little," Buffy admits quietly. "I just… I've never…"

"Ya don't gotta talk dirty to me, if you don't want to," Faith tries, trying to work around Buffy's nerves. "You can tell me about what you slayed tonight, or whatever. Don't care, just wanna… y'know, hear your voice."

"While you…?" Buffy asks, the unfinished question being clear enough for Faith.

"Yeah."

She can hear Buffy let out a heavy breath at the confirmation and the silence that follows nearly kills Faith. But she stays silent, letting this be Buffy's decision. Finally though the blonde starts, sounding a little nervous, "The first vamp I found I think used to be my Biology sub in middle school…"

Faith's eyes go wide. Buffy's actually letting her do this? Holy shit.

"Or, I don't know, he looked like him," Buffy goes on as Faith closes her eyes, settling back into her bed. She's not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all. She skips her breasts this time and goes straight to the goods as Buffy continues, "Anyway, if he was my Bio sub he must have been dead awhile because he didn't look like he had aged much. For a nerd, he was actually pretty good at fighting and I ended up totally ruining my knock off Manolo Blahniks when he threw me into a pile of mud."

"Sucks," Faith responds, thinking she should at least attempt to contribute a little to this conversation. Her voice is heavy though, her breathing already a little ragged as she slips her fingers over her clit, pushing her hips into her hand.

"Uhh… y-yeah," Buffy stutters for a moment, hearing how turned on Faith's getting. Her voice shakes with nerves and her own breathing gets a little heavier from the sounds Faith's making, but she goes on, "They're my favorite shoes, so… so I was pretty pissed off." She pauses, listening to Faith for a moment before she swallows and continues, "Then I screamed at him 'do you know how much these things are worth?' and he actually had the nerve to call me out and tell me they're knock offs!"

"Rude," Faith responds, though is barely listening by now. She can hear Buffy's voice, her tone, but she's having trouble actually focusing on actual words. She bites back a moan as she slips her fingers over her clit harder, bucking her hips into her hand. Though she can stifle her moans, she can't hide how labored her breathing has gotten and it seems to finally be getting to Buffy.

"Y-Yeah," she stammers, her own voice sounding much shallower. "He might… have been… gay—God, Faith; you're being really distracting," she interrupts herself in a rush, sounding like she's trying to control her own hormones after Faith emits an involuntary moan. "I can't… I can't think."

"Sorry," Faith apologizes breathlessly. She's not really sorry at all. Actually at this point, she's pretty firmly camped in 'this is fucking awesome' land. "You don't… gotta talk," she tries, pursing her lips together for a moment as she slips her fingers inside of herself, "Just… breathe…" the sound of Buffy's labored breathing was good enough for her at the moment.

"Breathe?" Buffy asks, sounding halfway between confused and turned on.

"Yeah," Faith responds, her voice almost a gasp as her hips twitch involuntarily. "Uggff, _fuck,"_ she gasps out, unable to keep it in any longer as she speeds up the pace of her fingers, twisting them slightly before slamming them back into her body. She can hear Buffy's breath catch in her throat and the blonde is silent for awhile, listening to Faith get herself off.

It isn't long before Faith knows exactly what she's doing. Buffy's breathing changes slightly, a tiny whimper escaping her lips as she can't take it anymore and starts touching herself. The sound turns Faith on immensely and she begins to imagine what Buffy's doing to herself right now. She's trying to hide it – Buffy that is – but Faith's heard women get themselves off more times than she should probably be proud of and there's no mistaking the sounds she's hearing.

"Wish I was fucking you 'stead of myself," Faith pants out, sliding her thumb over her clit as she pushes her fingers deeper into herself. "Wanna have you fuck my face 'till you cum in my mouth… wanna get ya thrashin' and grabbin' at the bed sheets as you scream my name…"

Buffy tries to stifle a moan at that, but fails miserably. "Shit," she breathes, probably pissed off that she let that slip and now Faith knows exactly what she's doing. She sounds embarrassed and Faith can hear her shuffling around, probably halting what she was doing not moments previously. Faith doesn't approve of that.

"Don't stop, B," Faith pleads breathlessly, slowing down her ministrations momentarily so she can actually form proper words. "Don't fuckin' stop… okay? Fuck everything, fuck bein' embarrassed about it. I ain't… ain't gonna…. _Jesus,"_ she loses her concentration momentarily and is interrupted by a moan, but she takes a breath after, trying to get relatively back on track. "I just… wanna fuckin' do this with you, okay?" she pleads, voice heavily labored.

"I…" Buffy starts, but trails off rather quickly. Faith can hear how turned on she in her voice and she's fucking praying she gives in. There's a heavy silence that hangs in the air before Buffy asks softly, "Just keep talking?" She sounds incredibly embarrassed, but that's still a good enough confirmation for Faith. Embarrassed or not, Buffy still wants to get off.

"Every time I fuck myself I think about fucking you," Faith tells her, speeding up the pace of her fingers as she clenches her eyes tightly shut. "Fuck, B… I… _uggff…"_ she interrupts herself as she hears Buffy quietly whimper in her ear; it's the sexiest thing she's ever heard in her life. "I wanna have you tearin' at my back as I slam into you so hard you see stars in your eyes. I wanna lick every inch of your fuckin' body. I wanna… oh, _fuck…"_ Her inner walls clench hard as she hears Buffy moan, not holding back this time.

God, she wishes more than anything that she was here right now. She'd fuck her so hard she wouldn't know what hit her.

"Put your fingers inside of yourself," Faith instructs breathlessly.

"They…" Buffy tries, but is cut off by another moan. Faith gets it: they already are. Pretty sure Buffy doesn't wanna say it out loud though. As far as steps go, this is a pretty damn big one in their relationship.

"Good," Faith encourages her softly, her breathing ragged as she slips her thumb over her clit a little harder. "Pretend it me… pretend it's me fucking you, B. I wanna be the one that makes you feel this way. I wanna be the one that makes you cum."

"Faith…" Buffy whimpers softly. Hearing Buffy say her name like that does something to Faith deep inside and she moans, slamming her fingers into herself harder as her insides clench. She knows she's not gonna last long. There's just something about Buffy's voice when she's turned on— hell, Faith's heard many women moan, pant, gasp but B… Buffy… fuck, she was the hottest.

"Fuck, B," Faith moans, tossing her head to the side as her hips pump frantically against her hand. "Jesus Christ… you sound so fuckin' sexy…" She bites back another moan once she hears Buffy getting a little louder. She keeps saying her name and it's driving Faith insane. She wishes she could just go over there right now and fuck her into oblivion.

Faith starts to feel the familiar burn start in the pit of her stomach as she becomes lightheaded. She can't speak anymore, but that's okay cause neither can Buffy. They're panting, moaning into the phone as they each get closer to the edge. Faith pictures Buffy with her fingers buried in her cunt, mouth slightly open and her eyes closed as she pleasures herself and the image alone is almost enough to make Faith cum instantly. She cries out loudly as she presses against her g spot, head swimming with the sound of Buffy's pleasure from the other end of the phone.

And then Buffy pants out, "Oh god… Oh, Faith… I wish you were here…" and suddenly Faith's coming harder than she ever has in her life. She screams out something inaudible that was supposed to be Buffy's name, but it turned out to be more like a mess of incoherent vowel sounds and strangled cries than anything else. Her whole body feels like its humming; her insides are clenching hard around her fingers and she bucks her hips, riding out her high.

When she's finally competent enough, she notices Buffy's breathing has calmed down significantly, even though Faith's pretty sure she didn't have an orgasm yet. "You cum?" she asks her breathlessly. Never in her life has she had to ask that before, but it's over the phone and maybe Faith's screams drowned her out or something.

"I… uh. Shit, I think my Mom's awake," Buffy whispers in the phone suddenly, ignoring her question. "I have to go." Faith tries to say something, but is cut off by the click of the phone as the line goes dead.

Okay, what the hell? If that doesn't spell avoiding the question, Faith doesn't know what does. She knows Buffy's voice when she's lying; her Mom isn't awake. So why the hell was she so quick to get her off the phone? Faith can't think of any other reason besides—

Holy _shit._

Has Buffy never had an orgasm?

**TBC…**


	42. Operation: Orgasm

**CHAPTER FORTY TWO  
****Operation: Orgasm**

"Have you ever had an orgasm?"

"Faith!" Buffy hisses, eyes wide as she practically shoves her against the lockers, hand clamped over her mouth. "What is _wrong _with you?" She's looking around, fearful someone heard Faith's question. Faith smirks from beneath her hand before she reaches up, moving it away from her mouth.

"Chill, B. Ain't no one payin' attention to us; they're too busy trying to get the hell outta dodge." It's the end of the school day and everyone's busy getting their shit out of their lockers and bolting out the front door. No one wants to stay in this hell hole very long.

"Whatever," Buffy responds, throwing her book bag over her shoulder and glaring at her a little. "We're not having this conversation." She pushes past Faith, heading down the hall towards the door. The brunette cocks an eyebrow at that, then follows.

"Why not?"

"Because it's _personal_, Faith!" Buffy exclaims, sounding really annoyed for such a simple question. It makes Faith think she already knows the answer. The blonde starts walking faster, like she's trying to get rid of her. But please, like Faith's really gonna let this go that easily? She matches Buffy stride for stride, which seems to only annoy her further once they make it halfway across the commons, nearing the sidewalk.

"Oh my god, are you going to follow me the whole way?" Buffy asks, stopping suddenly to round on her, hands on her hips.

"We're both goin' to Giles'; figured we'd walk it together," Faith replies innocently. Buffy narrows her eyes, not buying it. Even when Giles said to meet them right after school, Faith would always want to go home first and then come in late.

"Fine, but we're not discussing this. It's none of your business," Buffy tells her shortly before she turns, starting to walk away again.

"B, I'm your fuckin' girlfriend!" Faith exclaims, jogging to catch up with her. She puts her hand on Buffy's shoulder, turning her around to face her. "Kinda think that makes it my business."

Buffy shoves Faith's hand off of her, glaring at her. "Well then you'd be wrong. Just leave me alone," she snaps, turning to storm off again. Faith watches her go for a moment and sighs heavily. No wonder she's like this; Faith's sure she'd be an uber bitch too if she wasn't able to have orgasms.

Faith eventually does catch up with her, but doesn't say anything for a minute. They walk in silence, Buffy silently fuming. Finally Faith says softly, "Look… didn't mean to make you get all pissy at me; was just askin' a question."

Buffy doesn't say anything.

"And, y'know, alotta bitches—" Buffy shoots her a death glare and Faith revises, "Er, I mean _women,_ haven't had an orgasm before. Ain't like you're weird or anything." She saw some kind of documentary on TV once about women's sexuality. And hey, ain't like she's gonna flip the switch when they're talking about girls having orgasms.

"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy tells her flatly as she turns away from her, staring straight ahead of her as they walked side by side down the street.

Well, Buffy may not wanna talk about it, but when the hell has Faith ever listened? Besides, she doesn't want her to feel like a freak or anything. Hell, Faith's pretty damn sure once Buffy gets in bed with her she'll be cumming a goddamn rainbow – she hasn't failed to get a woman off yet, anyway.

"Look, all I'm sayin' is that I saw this thing that said that most chicks can't get off when they're just getting penetrated. Like seventy percent or something wacked. Were you playin' with your clit when we were on the phone too? Cause—"

"Oh my god, _shut up,"_ Buffy replies, quickly getting mortified. Her face is turning red as she tells her, "We are _not_ discussing last night in graphic detail. It just… it happened, okay? Leave it."

"Why are you getting bitchy at me?" Faith asks, getting kinda annoyed at being shut down when she's actually trying to be the caring girlfriend for once. Excuse her for actually giving a shit that her girlfriend's never had the pleasure of an orgasm in her life.

"Because I don't want to fucking talk about it!" Buffy shrieks, stopping mid stride to turn and look at her. Christ, she's _furious._ Faith holds up her hands in surrender, backing away a little.

"Okay, _sorry."_

Jeez. Talk about hormonal.

Buffy clenches her jaw as she stares at her for a moment, but before she turns away Faith notices her eyes are watering. Oh god, she just made her _cry._ Fuck, way to go, Lehane. She knew Buffy was getting pissed, but she didn't think this topic was that emotional for her. They're just orgasms, she'll have one eventually, right? Hopefully sooner rather than later, if Faith has anything to say about it.

"Shit, don't cry…" she tries, but apparently Faith knowing that she's getting upset seems to make her even _more _upset.

"Just leave me alone!" she shrieks, trying to get away from her. But she only makes it two steps before Faith stops her.

"No, B, c'mon, I'm sorry…" she apologizes, taking Buffy in her arms from behind and wrapping around her. Buffy doesn't sink back into her, but she doesn't move to get away either. "I didn't mean to get you all upset." Buffy purses her lips and doesn't say anything, but she does lean a little further back into Faith. The brunette kisses the top of her head as Buffy wraps her hands around Faith's arms that are enveloping her waist. She sighs.

"You just… you don't _understand…"_ Buffy tries softly, sounding really upset still.

"Tryin' to," Faith tells her softly, nuzzling into her neck. "But ya ain't talkin' to me about it." She places a small kiss below Buffy's ear and she feels the blonde relax a little more in her arms.

"I just… I thought you would laugh, or make fun of me, and I didn't…" her voice breaks a little and she looks down at the pavement.

"B, the last thing I'm gonna do is make fun of ya. Besides, you know you just gave me a mission right? That ain't no laughing matter," she tells her, smiling a bit at her attempt at humor. Buffy doesn't seem to think it's funny, but she doesn't get offended by it either so Faith figures she could've done worse. Buffy doesn't say anything at all, her eyes still trained on the ground. Finally she shrugs a little lifelessly.

"It just drives me crazy sometimes," she admits softly. Faith can only imagine.

"Look, if you want… I could fix that problem for you," she replies softly, knowing she's treading in dangerous waters by bringing this up. But she can't help it. She fucking hates seeing Buffy all upset like this. "I mean, we could just fuck off the training thing and go back to mine and I could, I dunno, go down on you or whatever."

The silence that follows that statement has to be the longest silence Faith has ever had to endure in her whole life. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the desired result.

Buffy pushes away before looking back at her, seriously offended. "You're fucking intolerable sometimes, do you know that? Leave it to you to try to turn an emotional problem of _mine _into a way for _you _to get laid!"

"_What?"_ Faith asks, seriously confused by how pissed she's getting. "Whoa, wait!" she calls out as Buffy starts to storm away again. She grabs her arm and pulls her towards her, trying to explain. "I wasn't trying to get laid, B! Jesus Christ. You don't have to do me, you don't even have to see me naked, I don't give a flying fuck; I was just trying to do something for _you!_ I fuckin' hate that this shit upsets you and I was just trying to find some kind of solution!"

Buffy stares at her for a moment, tightlipped. She looks her over, as if trying to decide if Faith's actually being sincere. Finally she lets out the breath she'd been holding and says, "I'm sorry. This topic is just… really stressing me out."

Understatement.

"Look, it's fine if you don't want to…" Faith tries, but she's cut off by Buffy.

"I'm not… saying that I don't," she tells her carefully, looking a little awkward to be talking about it like this. Faith tries to keep her face neutral even though she feels like doing a happy dance across the damn street. "But this is something that will probably require a lot of patience from you and, ah… that's not exactly your strongest quality."

True, but regardless. "Pretty sure I could go down on you for hours, B," Faith replies honestly, with only a hint of a smirk adorning her features. Buffy flushes a deep crimson at that thought and averts her gaze. "Soooo…" Faith drags out, since Buffy doesn't seem to want to contribute anything. "We gonna go back to mine?" She tries not to sound too hopeful, but she knows she does anyway. Buffy purses her lips, staring at her shoes.

"Yeah," she affirms quietly. But before Faith can say anything she looks up at her quickly, needing to make something clear. "But we're just going over there, alright? I need a break from training and I just… I don't know, I want to spend some alone time with you. This is kind of a 'whatever happens, happens' moment; we're not _scheduling _an appointment for me to have an orgasm, okay? Because that's just weird."

"'Kay," Faith replies, trying to keep her face neutral. But hell, that was good enough of a 'yes' for her! And if Faith's good at one thing, it's seducing women.

Operation: Orgasm is officially a go.

* * *

"Faith, you're squishing me."

As far as seduction plans go, Faith's had… better. Then again, not like it's her fault. Buffy has had one complaint after another ever since they started making out, though Faith knows it's only because she's nervous about where it could end up leading and is stalling. Some of her 'amazing' stalling tactics have included:

"It's too bright in here."

"You don't have enough pillows."

"I think a spring is poking into my back."

"Maybe we should light some candles."

Then five minutes later:

"Maybe we should put out the candles in case we knock them over and start a fire."

Really, the amount of Buffy's excuses has been ridiculous. But Faith's complied with every one of them; she drew the curtains closed, she borrowed some pillows from her Mum's bed, she checked out the spring issue (there was no issue, by the way), and then she lit some candles that she found in her Mum's room, only to put them out directly after.

Buffy wasn't kidding when she said this would take patience.

Faith moves so her body weight isn't directly on top of Buffy, not even bothering to apologize anymore as she presses her lips against hers for the umpteenth time. She's trying, God fucking help her she's _trying _really hard right now to be the good girlfriend, but she only has so much patience. So when Buffy moves to say something for the thousandth time, Faith lets out a sigh of aggravation and rolls off of her, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. She doesn't even let her get a word out; she knows it'll just be another excuse.

"I give up."

Buffy gives her an indignant look. "I _was _going to say that I wanted you to take off your shirt." Faith gives her a skeptical look and turns her head to face her.

"No, you weren't," she replies, calling her out.

"I _so_ was!" Buffy protests. Faith just continues to give her a look of 'yeah right' and after a moment Buffy sighs. "Okay, no I wasn't," she admits softly. "I'm sorry; I know I'm driving you crazy right now."

"S'Cool," Faith mumbles.

It's so not cool.

Buffy squishes her face to the side in guilt before she moves to lie with her, settling her head on Faith's breast as she wraps an arm around her waist. "I'm sorry," she apologizes again. "I've just… I mean, I've never…"

"Been with a chick before," Faith finishes for her softly. "Yeah, I know." She's trying not to sound too disappointed; this was supposed to be all about Buffy after all, but she can't help it.

Buffy shakes her head. "No. Well, I mean yeah but… but that's not what I was going to say." She turns up her face to look at Faith, whose eyebrows are furrowed. Faith runs her fingers through her hair as she watches Buffy take a nervous breath. "I, um… well, this is—okay. I… well, no one has ever—uhh, _you know._ To me." She looks embarrassed and Faith's eyes nearly bug out of her head.

"No one's ever gone down on you before?" she exclaims, unable to wrap her head around that concept. She turns quickly, sliding out from under Buffy so she can be the one to look down at her. "Was Scott mentally _retarded _or something?" For fucks sake, they dated _forever._

"_No,"_ Buffy replies, narrowing her eyes a little. "He just… well, I think it kind of grossed him out." She looks self-conscience about it and she averts her gaze.

"Dude, he's so fucking gay," Faith says, still not being able to properly comprehend this information.

"He's not gay…"

"B, a straight dude wouldn't pass up pussy," Faith tells her seriously. "He's gotta prefer the dick-suckin' side of life if he didn't want to go down on _you."_ Buffy flushes a little and bites her lower lip softly, still looking a little insecure. She shrugs lightly.

"I just… I guess I worry that… um," but she doesn't finish her sentence and so Faith has to lightly poke her side.

"What?"

Buffy won't look at her as she admits quietly, "That you won't like it either." Her fingers pick at the sheets below her as she chews on her bottom lip. She sounds legitimately scared of that prospect.

"Uh, B? Have you _met _me?"

Come on, now. Faith's favorite thing in the world is pussy.

"No, I know, I…" she sighs, still not looking at her. "But everyone tastes differently, right? What if I don't… taste good to you?" Her cheeks turn an even brighter shade of red. She clearly doesn't want to be talking about this, but Faith's actually glad she is. She's never been a real big talker, but sex? She can talk about that all night long. This is her area.

"You've never tasted yourself?" Faith asks, surprised.

"No!" Buffy exclaims in a wave of embarrassment, finally looking at Faith with her jaw dropped, like she's never heard of such a ridiculous idea. "Have _you?"_

"Uh, yeah," Faith replies, with a little 'duh' in her tone. "Pretty sure most chicks wonder about it, so… y'know, we try it out." She smirks a little as she tells her, "I taste pretty fuckin' good, in case you were wondering."

Buffy can't help but roll her eyes at Faith's moment of self-centeredness. "I'm sure," she tells her, half serious yet still half mocking her. Faith smirks as she looks down at Buffy, but her face softens when she sees the worry cross over her features again.

"B, you seriously got nothing to worry about. I promise," Faith tells her, smoothing the hair away from Buffy's brow with her fingertips. "But if it's freakin' ya out that much, maybe you should just… y'know, try a sample or whatever."

Buffy's eyes go wide as saucers. "Oh my god, _no!"_ she protests, looking horrified by the idea. "That's… that's… I don't know, really unclassy and kind of gross! I'm not going to stick my hand down my panties and… and…" she can't even say it. She's starting to look really flustered.

"Only gross if you make it out to be," Faith tells her. "Besides, it's just me here; I ain't gonna judge ya."

"The _walls_ are going to judge me, Faith! Oh my god." Buffy covers her face with her hands, looking mortified.

"Well then let me do it," Faith offers, shrugging. Buffy takes her hands away from her face to stare at her, jaw dropped slightly.

"You… _you _want to…?"

"Kinda been what I've been tryin' to get at for the past couple months, so haveta say yeah," Faith replies, smirking a little. "Besides, be wicked hot to see you taste yourself on my fingers."

"This is so embarrassing," Buffy groans, apparently not seeing the sexy in this at all. She buries her face in Faith's chest, hiding. When she speaks next, it comes out muffled against Faith's shirt. "Can we just… go back to making out? I don't want to talk about this anymore; this is a new level of awkward that I am just _so_ not ready for."

"Yeah, s'cool. Whatever ya wanna do," Faith replies. She's not gonna bitch as long as she gets to do _something._ Besides, 'making out' for them when they're alone usually mean second base, and Faith ain't gonna pass up playing with Buffy's tits. "Ain't gonna push."

Faith knows better than to push, or at least she does now anyway. She gets a way better response from Buffy if she just lets her do shit on her terms.

Buffy peeks up at her, giving her a small smile of gratitude before she leans in, kissing Faith softy on the lips. When they break she pulls back a little, cupping Faith's cheek with her hand as she lightly smiles. "You're a really good girlfriend, Faith," she whispers, keeping eye contact to let her know she's being serious. "I just wanted you to know that."

Faith raises an eyebrow skeptically. "Uh, okay?" She doesn't know how she managed to do _that,_ but fucking ten points for her, right? Still a weird thing to wrap her head around though. She always thought she'd suck at this kind of thing. "You sure you didn't hit your head on anything?" she asks. Buffy giggles.

"I'm sure," she tells her before she leans up again, this time kissing Faith with a little more force as she wraps her arms around her neck, pulling the brunette on top of her.

Faith wastes no time slipping her leg between hers, pressing her thigh to her center and making Buffy emit a quiet gasp. She uses that opportunity to slip her tongue into Buffy's mouth, milking a small whimper from the girl beneath her as her hand grips her hip tightly, holding her down; a gesture she learned the other day that Buffy liked. "It makes me feel like I'm yours," she had said. "Like I'm safe." Faith isn't sure how one simple gesture that signifies more domination than love gives her comfort, but hey; she ain't here to judge.

Buffy's hands are tangling in her hair, slightly pulling on it as she struggles to get Faith impossibly closer to her. It was almost like a resistance game for them; they had so easily fallen into step with Faith holding Buffy down and her trying to pull the brunette closer, that it started to become kind of automatic. It was like a fight, in a way; maybe that's what made it so hot – because the Slayer in both of them still liked to fight while fucking. Not that they're fucking but… you know what she means; anything sexually driven. Whatever. It was fucking hot, and that's all that mattered.

Buffy's hands wandered down from Faith's hair to her back, pulling on her shirt a little roughly as she demanded breathlessly, "Off." Faith eagerly obliged. As she sat up and pulled off her shirt, Buffy made quick work of ridding herself from her own. Faith threw her bra across the room before she helped Buffy take off hers and within moments their lips were connected again, Buffy groaning softly in her mouth as Faith's hand enveloped one of her breasts.

She tried to grab at her but Faith pinned her hands above her head quickly, dipping her head down to wrap her lips around one of Buffy's soft, pink nipples. The blonde arched her back and moaned softly, allowing Faith the domination for a moment. But once Faith found herself too into her work on Buffy's breasts to remember to keep a tight hold, her hands were free within a second and it was her who was pushing Faith up to a semi-sitting position, grabbing her wrists to pin them to her sides as she bit the top of Faith's breast. "Fuck, B," Faith grasps, grinding her hips into her as she closes her eyes.

Buffy has gotten really good at the whole second base thing. She doesn't hesitate anymore in taking what she wants and she isn't shy about it at all. Her lips find her nipple and she flicks her tongue against the hardened nub, making Faith strain against the hold she has on her. But Buffy keeps her locked down and at her mercy as she continues to stimulate every nerve ending that she can find. Faith bites her lower lip hard to stifle a moan, rocking her hips in some desperate attempt to get friction from the seam of her jeans.

The second Buffy loosens her grip on Faith's wrists though; the brunette suddenly has her pushed flat on her back, her lips crashing against hers almost violently as her hand – which seems to have a mind of its own all of a sudden – finds its way underneath Buffy's skirt. Buffy gasps hard once Faith cups her burning center over her underwear and it brings Faith to a screeching halt as she realizes where the fuck her hand is.

"Shit, I'm sorry—" she tries, but she's caught off by a breathless Buffy.

"Shut up."

Ooookay then. Don't gotta tell her twice.

Buffy's lips collided with hers again but she makes no move to remove Faith's hand from its newfound place of origin. Score; at least Faith's gonna be able to get a _little _farther today. Not as far as she hoped but hey; she ain't gonna complain. She presses her middle finger firmly against Buffy's clit, which makes the blonde cry out against her lips and buck her hips slightly. God, Faith can feel how soaked her panties are and it's driving her insane.

"Faith," she breathes, eyes closed as Faith's lips descend to kiss and nip at her neck. Her hands are latched onto her back, fingernails digging in from every slight movement of Faith's fingers against her underwear-clad clitoris. "Mmffph…" her lips are pressed tightly together and she's got the sexiest look of pleasure Faith's ever seen on another woman's face. She so badly wants to slip her hand inside of her panties, but she knows better than to do it without permission.

But then, like some kind of God send, Faith feels Buffy push on her shoulders, encouraging her downwards.

With Buffy though, she can't be sure whether she actually wants her to go down on her, or if she just wants her at her breasts again. She'd rather be safe than sorry, so Faith wraps her lips around one of Buffy's nipples automatically.

But then there's another, more frantic push on her shoulder. She wants her to go lower.

Holy mother fucker of God.

Faith doesn't say anything, since today she figured out talking about sex with Buffy is only going to stand to weird her out; she finds it uncomfortable for some reason. Problem is, Faith still isn't one hundred percent sure what it is she wants. Buffy's made her kind of paranoid about the whole thing because she wants to go 'slow', but then again she _did_ say she'd rather have moments be spontaneous rather than planned. Maybe this was her spontaneity.

So Faith slides her body lower, situating herself between her legs. She looks to Buffy for some kind of visual confirmation, but the girl has her eyes shut tightly, probably too scared about what she's initiating to look at her. So Faith decides to take a different route, looping her fingers around the sides of Buffy's panties, pulling them down only a little, but enough to ask a silent question. It takes a moment – a very long moment actually – but Buffy finally does lift her hips slightly, allowing Faith to pull them from her body.

Just the sight of Buffy's pussy made Faith's day become ten thousand times better.

She was… she was fucking_ beautiful_ down there. Her little lips were pink, wet, and slightly swollen from being so turned on. Faith takes a second to look up at Buffy's face, but all she's met with is a look of absolute terror. "B… are you sure?" she asks softly; this is obviously really freaking her out. Buffy purses her lips and puts her hands over her face, covering it from Faith's view.

"Just do it before I change my mind," she mumbles behind her hands. She's completely mortified. Faith doesn't get it; she's got _nothing _to be embarrassed about.

Hoping once they start Buffy will relax; Faith does what she says and slides her hands up Buffy's supple thighs, gently encouraging her to spread her legs wider. She does, but reluctantly.

"This is so weird," Buffy groans beneath her hands. "You're all down there and up in… _everything,_ and I don't know if— _oh my god,"_ she interrupts herself as Faith's mouth wraps around her dripping center. She knew if she didn't get Buffy out of her 'freaking out' phase then they'd never get anywhere. "Oh god," she gasps, her hands bunching up the bed sheets in her palm as her eyes pop open from the shock of how good it feels. "Jesus, Faith…"

Faith can't help but grin as she gets auditory confirmation that Buffy's definitely okay with this now. Honestly, she can't help but feel that Christmas came early. Buffy's _delicious._ How this girl thought that she could possibly taste bad, Faith has no idea. She kind of wants to be down here forever, thanks.

And she almost was.

Buffy was clearly enjoying it; that much was obvious. She was panting and moaning, thrusting her hips into Faith's face. She eventually even tangled her fingers in Faith's hair and forcefully encouraged her to keep going. Faith didn't mind all that. In fact, she kind of fucking enjoyed the hell out of it. And eating pussy_ is_ one of her favorite past times, but after nearly a half an hour of being down there, she was starting to grow a little agitated.

Not with Buffy, but with herself. It usually doesn't take her this long to get a girl off.

Faith was pulling out all the stops, too. But the problem was, whenever Buffy seemed to get close she would suddenly pull her pussy away from her mouth. Faith didn't care the first couple times, she figured she was just trying to prolong it, but now she was starting to think that having an orgasm actually _scared _Buffy or something. Like the feelings were too overwhelming for her and she didn't know how to deal with it, so she pulled away instead.

It was kind of maddening.

So after the bazillionth time of Buffy pulling away, Faith finally takes a breath and looks up at her. "B, ya gotta let me—"

"I can't," Buffy tells her breathlessly, cutting her off mid-sentence. Her eyes are still closed; she won't look at her. She bites her lower lip.

"Why?" Faith figures it won't hurt to ask.

"Because…" Buffy starts, but trails off and rolls her head to the side so Faith can't see her face. But Faith's curious and leans up, trying to see what's going on. She's blushing, like… really hard core. Faith furrows her eyebrows, not getting what's so embarrassing about reaching a climax.

"Cause why?" she pushes. She needs to know or else they're never gonna get anywhere. "B, I can't help you if you keep shuttin' up about everything. I know you hate talking about sex but I gotta know—"

"Because it feels like I have to pee, okay!" Buffy exclaims, sounding mortified. She groans and covers her face with her hands. "I don't want to pee on you, that'd be awful," she mumbles.

Faith cocks her eyebrow, not understanding. She's never actually had that feeling herself. "B, you're not gonna pee…"

"No, you don't get it; it always feels this way," Buffy tells her, finally taking her hands away from her face to look at her. She looks so distraught over it. "Even if I have an empty bladder it's like… ugh, I don't know!" she groans, running her fingers through her hair and looking at the ceiling; she's quickly getting frustrated. "It just freaks me out, I don't want to _pee _on you. I'd die."

"Honestly, I wouldn't give a fuck if you did," Faith replies.

"That's gross, Faith."

"Hey, I ain't sayin' I'm into it in some kinky way, but if ya get an orgasm out of it, ain't gonna complain if you pee a little too. Not like I'm gonna tell anyone."

Buffy sighs heavily, slamming her hands down on the bed in frustration. "Just forget it. I'm just going to be one of those people who never have an orgasm." She sits up in a wave of annoyance, shaking her head as she tries to search for her underwear.

"Okay, whoa, hold on," Faith says, sitting up and taking Buffy's arm in her hand to still her. "Never said I was done here; just cause you can't cum from oral sex doesn't mean you can't get off from other things."

"What's the point?" Buffy exclaims, looking upset. "I told you, it's never going to happen, okay? It just _isn't."_

"You don't know that—" Faith tries. She doesn't want this to be the last time Buffy ever attempts to do something sexual with her just because she's worried she's never gonna get off.

"It's _my_ body, Faith!" Buffy exclaims, pushing her away a little. She looks on the verge of tears. "Just forget it; this was a bad idea."

"B… baby," Faith tries, grabbing Buffy before she can make a run for it. She pulls her back against her body and envelops her with her arms, resting her chin on the blonde's shoulder. "Please just… take a breath, okay? You're starting to get pissed again over something that you don't gotta get mad at."

"But—!" Buffy protests, but is cut off by a hand clapping over her mouth. She narrows her eyes and looks at her indignantly.

"Breathe," Faith instructs, raising her eyebrows a little in encouragement. She needs to diffuse this situation fast or she's never gonna get into Buffy's panties again and well… that would suck. Buffy glares at her for a moment, but eventually does take her advice and takes a second to breathe and calm herself down. When she seems a little better, Faith takes her hand away from her mouth. "Look, I get that you're self-conscience about this," she tells her, "but just cause you didn't cum now doesn't make it the end of the word. Kinda fucks up my batting average, but hey; I'll live."

Buffy rolls her eyes at that.

"All I'm saying is that I'm willing to try other shit, if you are. Every chick can cum, B. You just gotta find your niche and be relaxed enough." She gives her a small, encouraging smile before she leans in, giving her a soft, open mouthed kiss. When they break she smirks, "And that's what you taste like, in case you were still wondering."

Buffy licks her bottom lip a little, as if trying to assess it. Faith raises her eyebrows like, 'well?' and Buffy answers, "It's… not horrible."

"'Not horrible'?" Faith asks, like Buffy just told her the sky was orange and every cloud in the world was shaped like a hippo. "B, you taste fucking _amazing."_ Buffy flushes a little, but smiles shyly as she tucks a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. She looks up at Faith beneath her lashes.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes softly, "about… all of this."

"Ain't nothin' to be sorry for," Faith tells her, knowing that's the right thing to say. She's getting better at this. "I'll give you an orgasm; even if it ends up fuckin' killing me I _will_ make you cum. Swear to God." She makes a little motion like crossing her heart and hoping to die kind of shit. Buffy smiles a little, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"What if it takes forever?" she asks quietly, voice filled with worry.

"Then I guess you're stuck with me forever," Faith replies, giving her a lopsided grin until she realizes how that just sounded and she makes a face. "Ugh, that was so fuckin' sappy. I swear to God I'm turnin' into some sorta—"

But Buffy claps a hand over her mouth, stopping her. "Shut up," she tells her, actually smiling a real smile this time. "That was probably the sweetest thing you've ever said to me; don't ruin it." She purses her lips together as she slides her hand away from Faith's mouth to rest on her cheek before slowly leaning in, pressing her lips to hers in the softest of kisses.

Faith won't lie; she's pretty damn disappointed in herself for not giving Buffy an orgasm. That's never happened to her_. Ever._ But hell… that's just gonna make her try harder the next time.

**TBC…**


	43. Can't Let Go

**CHAPTER FORTY THREE  
****Can't Let Go**

"She's a squirter!" Faith exclaims triumphantly as she stares at Giles' computer screen, the answer to Buffy's little problem laid out before her in black and white.

Four heads turn to look in her direction: Giles and three construction workers that are fixing the floor in the library. Whoops.

"Faith, I would appreciate it if you didn't use my personal computer for your… extracurricular activities," Giles tells her, shooting her a disapproving look.

"I ain't lookin' at porn or anything," Faith defends. "This is research." Cause it is, sorta. She needed to find out why Buffy felt like she needed to pee all the time before an orgasm – turns out girls that ejaculate have that sensation right before and apparently a lot of chicks won't let themselves go cause they're all freaked they're gonna piss on their partner or something.

And fuck, if Buffy's really a squirter that would be _wicked._ Faith's never been with one before.

"For what class?" Giles asks, a tone of disbelief in his voice. He's doing that whole 'fatherly disapproval' thing that makes Faith squirm in her seat from guilt.

"Uh… health class?"

Best bet, anyway.

"I very much doubt that Mrs. Hampton assigned you a paper on female ejaculation," Giles responds, which makes Faith get a really freaked out look on her face. Those words should never come out of Giles' mouth; that's just gross. "Now I would appreciate it if you cleared my browsing history and went back to lunch."

"Fine, whatever," Faith replies, a little grumpy as she clicks the button to clear it. She wasn't done, damnit. Just cause she might know the cause of Buffy's little affliction, doesn't mean she knows how to get her to let go and allow herself to do it. She doubts telling Buffy what the cause is will do much good; if she's still freaked out about the feeling then she's still gonna try to stop it from happening.

"Oh and Faith?" Giles says, making the brunette turn around when she's almost halfway out the door. "A phone call yesterday would have been preferable," he tells her, not looking very happy about her skipping training and not even bothering to tell him about it.

"Sorry," Faith mumbles.

"I understand both you and Buffy are young and would like some time to yourselves, but contrary to what you may believe; I do have a life outside of being your Watcher. If you aren't going to come in, you need to let me know. Is that understood?"

Faith nods, pursing her lips. Giles always has this way with making her feel wicked guilty. It's not even what he says, more the tone he uses when he's saying it.

"We will be meeting after sundown tonight," he tells her. "Angel believes he may have a lead on Darla. Don't be late."

"Won't," Faith responds, looking at her shoes until she finds Giles is done and then she turns, walking quickly out of the library. She hates being lectured, makes her feel like an asshole. It's not_ her_ fault she was preoccupied and couldn't pick up a phone! But it's not like she's gonna explain exactly what she was doing to Giles either, because that'd just be fucking disturbing. It was already bad enough she had to hear the words 'female ejaculation' come out of Giles' mouth; she's probably gonna have nightmares for weeks.

Faith tried to talk to Buffy about what she found online, but she didn't get the chance. They didn't have any classes left together and Faith ended up getting thrown in detention after school for telling Harmony to fuck off when she made a really rude comment about Faith's outfit… or lack thereof. So she didn't get to see her until they were at Giles' and it wasn't like she was gonna bring it up in front of everyone.

They're lounging around Giles' living room, waiting for Angel to show up. Wesley was trying to quiz Kennedy on the origin of jujitsu (though she was pointedly ignoring him), Xander was showing Willow a demon in one of Giles' books that he swore up and down "looked like a walking penis," Giles looked like he was getting a headache from Xander's claims, and Buffy and Faith were facing each other on the couch; trying to open up their Slayer connection more. Or rather, Buffy was trying to teach Faith how to access it better.

Thankfully no one was paying much attention to them to witness Faith utterly_ failing_ at the task. They were all too caught up in their own shit.

"Faith, you're concentrating too hard. This doesn't have anything to do with thinking," Buffy chides as she watches Faith's face. She doesn't exactly look relaxed.

Faith lets out an annoyed breath and opens her eyes to look at her. "Well then I don't get how I'm supposed to feel you better if I ain't supposed to be actively _doing _anything."

Buffy sighs patiently and takes Faith's hands in hers, guiding her to hold them up so they can be palm to palm. "What do you feel?"

"Tingles."

"Good. Where? How far do they go?" Buffy asks. Faith gives her a dirty smirk and although Buffy rolls her eyes, she does look a bit amused. "Okay, _perv._ Seriously."

Faith shrugs, getting serious. "The strong stuff's just at my hands," she tells her, looking at their palms touching.

It's odd, the Slayer connection. It's not sexual and it's not emotional. It's not even a physical thing; it goes beyond all that. It's like it took bits and pieces of everything she could feel from every part of her and combined them to, fuck, whatever… transcend all the simple shit. Psychic ripples against her skin, maybe. Faith doesn't know; it's hard to describe, honestly. It could even be beneath her skin for all she knows; it's hard to pin point where it comes from.

She figured it would bother her, constantly feeling the tingles and the shivers, but it doesn't. It's kind of just… a part of her, at least when Buffy's around. It feels right, in a way; natural. It feels like how she _should_ feel, and it's when she's not around Buffy, when she doesn't feel it, that she feels kind of… empty. It's wicked weird.

"For me, it's everywhere," Buffy tells her, her fingers lightly caressing against Faith's. "Anytime you touch me; I don't just feel it where your skin connects, but all over my body."

"Yeah, but how the fuck are you managing to do that?" Faith asks, still not understanding. She already knew Buffy felt it more than she did. She didn't know the extent, but whatever. It's not the extent that even matters right now.

"I love you," she says simply.

Faith nearly chokes on her own breath and her eyes go wide as saucers. She… _what_ now?

Buffy seems to only _now_ realize how that just came out so she starts shaking her head and her hands erratically, "No, no, no, no! I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean I… _love _love you, or whatever. That's ridiculous." She scoffs, trying to play it off, but then realized how_ that_ sounded and revised. "I didn't mean ridiculous! I just meant… funny; you know, a 'ha ha' as in 'that'd be way too soon' and… okay, I need to stop before I make this any worse."

She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself and down and focus after that unintentional faux pas. "What I _meant_," Buffy reiterates after a moment, "was that I… _care _about you in… well, a pretty significant way. I care how you feel; I care what happens to you. I care that you're safe, loved, and happy." She smiles at her softly. "And I… I_ do_ love you, Faith," she tells her. Faith's pretty sure she's going to have a heart attack at those words. Once was enough. "But I'm not_ in_ love with you," Buffy explains quickly, seeing the panic arise on Faith's face again. "Do you get it? I think it has to do with love."

Faith hates that word. It fucking terrifies her.

Buffy seems to see that and sighs a little, "But you aren't open to loving me because you're afraid that it'll mean you're_ in_ love with me. You can't see the difference and that's why I'm more in touch with the connection than you are. So until you learn that, I don't think you're going to be able to feel me in the way that I feel you."

Well that blows.

Faith sighs heavily, slumping against the couch. "This is stupid," she tells her flatly. "I_ do_ care about you, so I don't get it. It's not like I'm trying to convince myself that I don't anymore; kinda moved past all that."

"Well I don't know how else to explain it to you."

"And you know what? That doesn't make any sense," Faith starts, having now decided that Buffy must have it wrong. "Because I'm not the one who's holding back in our relationship, here."

"Oh my god, this isn't even _about_ that," Buffy replies, looking at her incredulously for bringing up sex.

"How do _you_ know?"

"Because why would sex have to do with _any_ of this?" Buffy exclaims, which finally gets the attention of nearly everyone in the room. She coughs a little self-consciously and flushes, not meeting any of their gazes. Faith sighs; conversation over, obviously. Buffy would freak if they started talking about this when everyone else is actually listening.

Thankfully, Angel chose that moment to walk through the door. Buffy instantly notices this and sits up straight, instantly alert.

"Wait a minute, how did you do that?" she asks, looking at him a little accusingly. "You have to be invited in!"

"I invited him in yesterday," Giles tells her patiently. "Which you would have known, had you have been here." Buffy looks a little sheepish and slumps back into the couch. Least Faith ain't the only one getting the disapproving father look; makes it a little better.

"I'm sorry, I should have knocked," Angel apologizes.

"Nah, don't even worry about it," Faith replies, waving it off. "We all barge in here all the time now. Dunno if G even _has _a doorbell."

Giles sighs a little in annoyed helplessness, but doesn't lecture them about it. He probably knows it's pointless; they all have been walking in here like they own the joint ever since they got booted from the library. Should be finished in like a week though, thankfully. Giles looks like he's gonna pop a vein from his lack of privacy soon.

"Please, sit down," he offers to Angel, ignoring Faith's previous statement.

"I'd rather stand… but thanks," Angel replies a little awkwardly, obviously not very comfortable with someone being hospitable to him.

"You have word of Darla?" Giles asks. Angel nods.

"Willie, this guy who runs a demon bar downtown told me she passed through there the other day," he tells them. Faith idly wonders if he ever has any other expression besides brooding seriousness. "But all he could tell me was that she was looking for someone. He didn't know who, but my guess is that it's not someone we want her to find."

"Someone like who?" Buffy asks.

"I don't know. She's been alive for hundreds of years; she knows a lot of bad… _things_," he stresses, indicating much more than just people or vampires. Great, because the last thing they all needed was a strong vamp with connections. "But as far as I know, she's still in town. Knowing her, she has a group of vampires doing the search for her. She never did enjoy doing to the grunt work; only the payoff."

"Fun," Faith responds dryly. "So what? Me and B split up and try to find this bitch?" She looks to Giles for confirmation.

The Watcher purses his lips as he thinks about that, cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief. "Perhaps it would be best if you and Buffy stick together for the next couple of nights," he responds, replacing the glasses on his nose.

"Why? We can cover more ground if we're apart," Buffy answers, not seeing the logic in that either.

"Darla may be the strongest vampire either of you have ever come across, save the Master," Giles responds. "It took the both of you to defeat him; therefore I do not wish to take any chances if you do happen to come across her. You both are much safer, and much _stronger _when you're together."

Both Buffy and Faith shoot each other a look; they know Giles is babying them. They get that it's safer, yeah, but there's only supposed to be one of them in the first place. They can take care of themselves.

Giles seems to sense that they're about to argue, so he preemptively tells them, "This isn't a negotiation, girls. You both will patrol together tonight."

Faith sighs heavily and rolls her eyes as she gets off the couch. "Fine, whatever. C'mon, B; let's kick this bitch in the ass so we can go back to mine and fu…" she catches herself mid-sentence, "_finish_ our homework." Yeah, cause that didn't sound awkward in the slightest.

"We're not doing anything that starts with an 'f', Faith," Buffy tells her flatly, not looking happy that she just assumed that since she allowed Faith to eat her out_ one_ time that she could do whatever she wanted now. She gets off the couch and crosses the room, grabbing her stake from out of her backpack.

"An 's'?" Faith asks, trying to be snarky. It isn't well received.

"_No."_

Buffy throws a stake at her and Faith catches it easily. "I got more letters in the alphabet, y'know."

"You're not funny."

"I thought you were funny," Xander tells her in a low voice, nudging her with his shoulder. Faith holds out her fist and he bumps it. Least _someone's _got her back.

"Right? I'm fuckin' hilarious," Faith replies, chuckling a little with Xander. That is until Buffy grabs her hand, practically pulling her across the room, towards the door.

"Uh, Buffy?" Giles calls out, trying to get her attention before she manhandles Faith all the way out the door. Buffy turns to look at him. "You'd probably do well to start with the south side of town; its vampire activity has increased over the last couple of days."

Well, duh. He wouldn't know that if it weren't for them. Then again, since they're over on the east side, they probably would have started here to save time.

Whatever.

"Okay," Buffy replies, still sounding a little distracted. Faith has time enough to shoot Xander a helpless look before she's practically dragged from Giles' house.

They make it halfway down the street until Buffy _finally _loosens her grip on her, allowing Faith to walk on her own. "Dude, what's with the manhandling?" Faith asks, rubbing her wrist. She's pretty sure Buffy's grip bruised her.

"You… _you!"_ Buffy exclaims, rounding on her to point directly in her face. It makes Faith stop short. "You don't understand the concept of privacy, do you?"

"Uh…"

No, not really.

"I don't need everyone in there knowing about our sex life, or… lack thereof, okay? You just… you _say _things in front of people without giving half a crap whether I'm okay with it, Faith! I don't want the whole world knowing my business! God, sometimes I swear you must be mentally _deficient!" _

"Okay, whoa," Faith says, holding up her hand to stop Buffy's tirade. "First of all; pretty damn sure everyone in that room assumes we've fucked before; I'm _me _and we've been dating for almost a month. Second of all; I'm not your personal whipping post, so back the fuck off with your insults or I'm gonna punch you in the face. We clear?"

Faith will take a lot when she deserves it, but she ain't gonna be called retarded when she didn't do anything to actually warrant it. She fucking hates when people just assume she's stupid because of where she comes from and how she looks. She's _not_ stupid. Skipped a grade she's so fucking smart, remember? Damn.

Buffy looks royally pissed at her for a second, until it actually registers what she said to her. "Oh, no, I didn't… I didn't mean it like that," she tries, realizing that she just insulted her.

"Dunno how else you coulda meant it," Faith replies flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm frustrated, okay?" Buffy exclaims, running her fingers through her hair and looking a little overwhelmed. "I know you're not mentally deficient, Faith. I was just…"

"Using me as a whipping post," Faith finishes for her. Buffy's guilty look is the only confirmation Faith needs.

"Sorry," she mumbles again.

Faith shrugs. It's whatever; she gets the frustration. Least Buffy apologized. "Look… I'm sorry too, for y'know, the sex comments and everything. Just never really had to keep them to myself; ain't used to it."

"They just embarrass me," Buffy says softly, wrapping her arms around herself as they begin walking down the street again. "I'm not… as _open _about that stuff as you are, okay? And it's not like my sex life has been successful in any way, shape or form. I don't exactly like talking about it because of… that." She looks down at her shoes.

"Speaking of," Faith replies, finally finding her opening. "Think I figured out what your issue is."

"My _issue?"_ Buffy asks, looking up at her with an indignant look on her face.

"Er… your problem? I dunno, don't get onto me about my wording right now, B; this is actually kinda important," Faith responds. Buffy doesn't say anything, but she does cross her arms over her chest and looks at her with an eyebrow raised. "I think you're a squirter," Faith informs her.

"A what?" Buffy asks, sounding confused.

"A squirter; like you can ejaculate. Don't tell me you don't ever watch porn; you gotta know what I'm talking about."

"I know what female ejaculation _is,_ Faith; I'm not stupid," Buffy retorts. "But_ no_ I don't watch… ew. No. I can't believe you _do."_ She pauses, then reassesses that. "Actually no, I take that back; I believe it."

Whatever. Faith ain't about to feel guilty for watching porn; it's a healthy pastime, thanks.

"Fuck the porn thing, Buffy; not the point. But I was lookin' up this shit online earlier and a bunch of chicks were saying on all these sites that if a girl has like, this overwhelming desire to pee, usually means they're about to squirt. But a lot of chicks hold it back cause they're afraid they're gonna, y'know, piss on someone."

"Usually isn't _always,_ Faith; and I'm not about to take that risk. I'm not going to have my first lesbian experience turn into… ugh, water sports. That's gross," Buffy replies, making a face of disgust. "I'd rather never have an orgasm at all."

"That's stupid."

"_Excuse _you?" Buffy responds, looking incredibly offended. She puts her hands on her hips.

"That's fuckin' stupid, B!" Faith exclaims, not understanding in the slightest why someone would rather choose to never have an orgasm. "I already told you I don't give a fuck if you_ do_ pee on me, which probably isn't even gonna happen anyway; so it doesn't even fuckin' matter! I mean for fuck's sake, if I don't care I don't get why you do! Most bitches would kill to have their first orgasm and yet you're over here advocating against it. That's screwed up and I don't get it."

"Maybe there's more to life than just _orgasms,_ Faith," Buffy replies sardonically.

"That's not even the point," Faith replies, quickly becoming frustrated. She runs her fingers through her hair before she throws her hands out helplessly. "You know, I'm starting to think that it's just that you don't want_ me_ to be the one to give you your first."

"What? That's not true!" Buffy protests, jaw dropped.

"Whatever," Faith dismisses, feeling hurt and pissed off since she's decided in her head that that's really the reason for all of this. She starts to storm off, but Buffy grabs her hand and pulls her back desperately.

"No, Faith, I swear that's not why…"

"Then what_ is_ it?" Faith exclaims, knowing by now that it's more than just Buffy's fear of urinating on her. She doesn't know how she knows, she just does. Maybe it's by the look on Buffy's face; she looks halfway between terrified and guilty. "Well?" she presses, since Buffy hasn't said anything.

"I just…" Buffy starts, looking completely vulnerable as her jaw trembles a little. She purses her lips for a moment to compose herself before she admits softly, "I can't let myself go with you, Faith." She doesn't even have the decency to look at her when she says it.

"Why the fuck not?" Yeah, Faith's pissed off and hurt like hell and she's not about to tone it down for anyone's sake.

"Because I'm scared…"

"Of _what?"_ Faith asks, growing more agitated by Buffy's stalling. She could have just said this all at once, but no… she has to drag it out, like fucking always.

Buffy takes a shaky inhale of breath and nervously taps her hand against her jeans. "Of falling for you," she whispers. She still won't look at her.

That one sentence brings Faith's brain screeching to a halt.

"I can't trust that if I give myself to you like that that you won't hurt me," Buffy tells her quickly, needing to explain. She's still looking at her shoes though. "I know if I… if I _fall_ for you, it's going to scare you and you're going to run. I can't deal with something like that. I can't get my heart broken by you again."

Faith just stares at her. She doesn't know what to say to something like that, partly because she knows Buffy's right. If she ever told her that she was… yeah, Faith would probably run as fast as she fucking could and wouldn't look back.

"It's just sex, B," she tries finally.

"No, it's not. Not to me," Buffy tells her, finally looking up at her. "Well… okay, maybe it is; I could have sex with you. But I just… I _can't_ let you be the one to…"

"Make you cum," Faith answers for her. Buffy nods, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "But that's just _part _of sex, Buffy."

"It never has been for me," Buffy tells her, shrugging a little self-consciously. "It's never been part of _any _equation for me. And that's… it's a really big deal, okay? It's like; I'm totally opening myself up to someone and trusting them enough to have all of me and honestly I… I don't really trust you with that." She says the last part regrettably, but not like that softened the blow any.

"Great. That's fuckin'… fantastic then," Faith snaps, throwing up her hands in defeat as she starts to storm away again. But she thinks twice about that and suddenly rounds on her, pointing at her accusingly. "Why the fuck are you even _with _me then? Huh? Tell me what the fuck the point is to all of this, Buffy!"

"Because I like you, you idiot!" Buffy retorts, obviously not enjoying Faith questioning their relationship. "Don't you _dare _diminish my feelings for you right now; this isn't even about that! But just because I like you doesn't mean that I've learned to trust you yet! Regardless of how pissed you are, you still know I'm right; if I fell for you, you would run." She looks at Faith like she's daring her to question that. She doesn't. "So excuse me if I feel the need to protect myself from getting hurt."

Silence follows that statement for a very long time.

"You know what?" Faith says finally, backing up a couple steps as she purses her lips like she's trying to keep herself from saying something. She tilts her head to the side and pushes her hand in the air, as if she's trying to ward her away as she tells her evenly, "Screw you."

"Faith!" Buffy exclaims; shocked, offended, and hurt.

But Faith has already turned away from her, walking away briskly because her stomach feels like fucking rocks and she thinks she's gonna throw up. She can hear Buffy start to come after her so she starts running, needing to get away from her; she can't deal with this right now. She runs until her feet can't carry her anymore and she collapses against a tree, pressing her cheek to the bark. She knows Buffy isn't behind her; she lost her about a mile back.

It's just… _so fucked up._

Buffy's always fucking on about how she's gonna hurt her, not giving two goddamn seconds to think about how much she might actually be hurting Faith. So fuck her, fuck all of this. Faith never expected to get hurt from those words, especially not coming out of woman's mouth. But she is. She's fucking getting torn up inside over it because for the first time in her life she's tried _so hard_ to do the right thing. For the first time in her life she's actually opened herself up enough and let someone in. Maybe not all the way, maybe not in the way Buffy would like her too, but in comparison she feels more exposed than she's ever been in her whole life. She's done_ nothing_ but try to treat Buffy right these last couple of weeks and yet she's always gonna look at her like she's a fuck up.

And that makes Faith feel like shit because all her life people thought she was a screw up. All her life people thought she'd do the wrong thing. And yeah, maybe Buffy falling for her would scare the living crap out of her, maybe she would run, but for the first time in her life Faith thought she found someone that would give her the benefit of the doubt; someone who would actually believe that she could be better than that.

But apparently she was wrong.

**TBC…**


	44. Welcome To Slayer Stamina

**CHAPTER FORTY FOUR  
****Welcome To Slayer Stamina**

Faith ignores the knock on her door; she knows who it is and she doesn't want to talk to her.

She's been curled up into a ball on her bed for the better part of the last half hour, staring at the wall across the way as she makes an effort to shut down every single emotion she's feeling. It's not working as well as it used to. She wants to drink… _so _badly, but she doesn't have anything anymore and it's not like she's gonna ask her mother to buy her some when she's over there trying to get off of her own drug of choice. That'd be fucked up.

So Faith's just been lying there, staring at the wall, unmoving. Ain't nothing else to do. She wishes she could sleep, but she's not tired at all.

The knocking continues.

"Go away, for fuck's sake!" Faith shouts, getting fed up with it. She's obviously not answering the door for a reason; Buffy needs to take a hint.

The knocking does finally stop, but not for the reason she'd like. Within moments her door is opening – not her front door, but the one connected to her mother's room. "Fai, honey; Buffy's here to see you," her mother announces, like she doesn't have the first clue how annoying she's being. Faith looks up and sees them both in the threshold and she scowls.

"Didn't answer my fuckin' door for a reason, Mum."

"I know," she answers, yet doesn't apologize or explain. She just smiles at Buffy and tells her, "You can stay as long as you like, dear; don't let her try to kick you out. She has this nasty little habit of thinking she runs the place_ I_ pay for."

Faith glares at her. Way to undermine her authority, damn.

"Uh… thanks, Mrs. Lehane," Buffy replies, looking like she feels a little awkward because she came into Faith's room even though she obviously doesn't want her there. She's probably second guessing her decision because of the unhappy look plastered on Faith's face.

Caroline gives Buffy another smile and then leaves the way she came; closing the door behind her, leaving Buffy and Faith to just stare at each other in silence. Faith still hasn't moved from her curled up position on the bed; there really isn't any point to. Buffy already knows she's upset, be dumb to try to deny it.

Buffy looks really nervous for reasons Faith thought she understood until she tells her in a shaky voice, "Don't judge me, okay?" Faith furrows her eyebrows, not understanding what the hell she's talking about. Buffy takes her coat off, her trembling hands laying it over the bedside table. Faith just watches her, trying to figure out what the hell she's supposed to not be judging her for as she kicks off her shoes.

Then Buffy pulls her shirt over her head.

"Uh, B?" Faith tries, finally realizing Buffy's about to get naked in her hotel room. Her eyes are trained on Buffy's hands that are now sliding her jeans down to her ankles. "Whatcha doin'?" she attempts to ask casually, though her heart is starting to beat a thousand miles an hour. She sits up a little and her eyes go wide as Buffy reaches behind her and unsnaps her bra.

"Apologizing," Buffy replies softly, looking scared out of her fucking mind. This is not exactly how Faith pictured this moment to go.

"B, stop," she tells her, quickly crawling across the bed to latch her hands around Buffy's wrists, preventing her from taking off her underwear. She knows she doesn't want to do this. "You don't gotta prove anything to me, okay?"

It's almost scary how the vulnerability on Buffy's face turns to determination in the span of a second. Faith finds herself flat on her back and Buffy on top of her before she even registers that she pushed her backwards. "What the—" she tries to exclaim, but she's cut off by Buffy's lips pressing against hers roughly, muffling the rest of her protest in her throat.

When Buffy breaks the kiss, she's pinning her down; their faces inches from each other. "This is what's going to happen," she tells her seriously. "Are you listening?"

"Uh…"

Faith doesn't exactly know what to make of this complete one eighty, honestly. But her confusion apparently is enough confirmation for Buffy.

"We're going to have sex and I'm going to let you give me an orgasm," she tells her, as if she's dictating a freaking grocery list. But she stumbles as she amends, "Well, uh, maybe not _now _– you don't exactly look turned on by all of this – but someday; probably soon." Buffy looks down at her, pursing her lips for a moment as her eyes search the brunette's. "You're pissed that I don't have faith in you," she goes on; her voice softer, yet still determined, "but you need to understand that I have to take precautions of my own, so this is how it's going to be: if, at any point after this, I happen to look at you differently, you won't run from it."

Faith just stares at her, eyebrows raised a little from how sure her voice is about all this, when not five minutes ago she looked like she nervous wreck.

"And if you do…" she starts, eyes flashing with serious intent, "I _will _find you and I _will_ beat you down, probably within an inch of your life. Do you understand?"

_Damn._

It's not determination Faith's seeing in her eyes right now; it's the Slayer, her survival instinct. Maybe they aren't in a life or death situation, but Buffy's terrified of being hurt again. It doesn't matter if it's physical or if it's emotional; it's all the same to her right now. So these are her… battle plans, for lack of a better term. And in some wacked out, backwards sort of way… it kinda turns Faith on.

Or maybe it just turns the Slayer in her on.

"Y'know, you're kinda sexy when ya get all bossy like that," Faith tells her, smirking slightly. But Buffy doesn't take the bait.

"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, Faith," she tells her, voice much softer now as she looks down at the girl beneath her. "You've been... really amazing lately and it wasn't fair of me to assume that you haven't changed any. I know you have, I can _see _you have." Buffy finally lets go of her wrists, allowing her movement. She brushes a piece of chocolate hair away from Faith's eyes as she tells her, "But you have to understand where I'm coming from too; you already pushed me away once because you were scared of something serious."

Faith exhales a long breath, looking up at her. She was trying to avoid this whole conversation with sex, but she should know by now that's never going to happen. Her avoiding shit, that is; not the sex. Buffy's had enough of her runaround, obviously. "I wish I could promise you shit, B; but I can't," Faith tells her honestly, figuring if she can't get out of it than she might as well give into it. "This is already a lot for me, y'know? And it doesn't freak me out as bad anymore, but a lot of this stuff still makes me wanna run away like a punk ass bitch. I won't lie about it."

Buffy purses her lips, upset crossing her features. She doesn't like that answer, though looks like she expected it nonetheless.

"But with you threatening my life like that; might be enough encouragement not to be a _complete_ fuck up," Faith adds, smirking a little to help ease the tension. Buffy smiles a little despite herself, but then smacks her on the arm and reiterates:

"I _will_ kill you, you know." She's saying it playfully, yet is still completely serious; Faith can see it behind her eyes.

"I know. Ain't stupid," Faith replies, still smirking at her a little. But the smirk eventually fades and she gets serious. "I'm never gonna intentionally hurt you, Buffy. But… y'know, to be on the safe side and everything, maybe if you do end up… _you know… _you probably shouldn't tell me until I can… deal." She hopes Buffy takes that well, but with her she can never be sure. She braces herself for potential backlash, but thankfully it doesn't come.

"I… can probably do that, yeah," Buffy replies, giving her a shy smile as their eyes connect. She shrugs lightly. "I guess I don't have to tell you _everything _that's going on in my head." She sounds like she's teasing her and Faith smirks.

"Sounds like a plan, then. But first…" Buffy squeals as suddenly Faith's hands are cupping her ass, pulling her a little closer to her on her lap as she sits up, her lips only a breath away from Buffy's. "Kinda want to take advantage of this whole half naked thing ya got goin' on right now," she breathes just before her lips find Buffy's in a kiss that leaves the blonde breathless.

Buffy kisses her back with the same amount of bruising passion, but she seems to be able to gather her thoughts better once Faith moves from her lips to her neck. While she's still grabbing onto her, grinding her hips into her, and very much encouraging it all, her lips say the most un-fun thing ever, "Uh… Faith? We… mmff… we actually have to… patrol…"

"Fuck patrol," Faith breathes before she sinks her teeth into the junction where Buffy's shoulder blade and neck meet, making Buffy gasp loudly as scratch down Faith's back.

"But— _Oh god,"_ Buffy gasps as Faith tweaks both her nipples simultaneously, making her close her eyes and lose her train of thought for a second. "We… uh, we promised Giles…" she tries, though her hands are now weaving their way through Faith's long locks. Her body is obviously not very in sync with her brain.

"Fuck Giles," Faith whispered in her ear before taking the lobe between her lips, emitting a shiver that goes all the way down Buffy's spine. The blonde's hand tightens on her hair, nearly pulling some from her skull.

But unfortunately Buffy isn't letting this go and she pushes Faith away from her softly. "I'm sorry," she tells her, a little breathless. She clearly doesn't want to stop either, but the difference between her and Faith is that she can push everything aside to do her job. "But we need to find Darla. This is kind of important."

Faith groans, flopping back on the bed and looking up at her with a hint of a scowl on her face. "Fun sucker," she accuses. Buffy gives her a pleading look and Faith rolls her eyes, succumbing. _"Fine."_ But a naughty smirk crosses her features before she tells her, "But I gotta have a taste first; it keeps my strength up." Her hands grab hold of Buffy's hips and she pulls her in one quick motion so the blonde is situated over her face. Buffy squeals from the unexpected movement but it quickly turns into a moan as Faith yanks Buffy's panties to the side, wrapping her mouth around her clit.

"_Jesus…_ Oh my god," Buffy pants as her eyes flutter closed and she grabs onto Faith's head. The brunette wastes no time sliding her tongue deep inside of her, which makes Buffy clench and press her hips closer to her face. "Oh fuck, Faith…" she groans, seemingly forgetting about everything else for a moment as she begins to ride Faith's tongue.

However, the moment is short lived.

Buffy squeals again as suddenly she's thrown off of Faith, landing on the bed in an unceremonious heap. She looks so confused and it makes Faith chuckle. "Sorry B; we gotta patrol." It takes a minute for that information to sink in, but then Buffy narrows her eyes.

"I hate you."

Faith laughs, she can't help it. She knows what she did was kind of mean, but she didn't want to be riding the horny train alone. "Now you know how I feel. Alright, can we get this shit done with so we can get our asses back here?"

Buffy, in a state of sexy disarray, raises an eyebrow at that. "Are you inviting me to stay the night?" she asks, like she's a little unsure.

"Might be invitin' ya to stay the weekend, depending on how well the night goes," Faith replies, smirking a bit as she sits up, grabbing Buffy's clothes. She tosses them to her. "Now c'mon; let's get this shit over with so I can get your hot ass back in my bed." She grins when Buffy flushes shyly at that, obviously pleased with the compliment.

Faith watches intently as Buffy begins to put back on her clothes, and all she can think of is: _I can't wait to rip those off again. _But by the look on Buffy's face, they both actually seem to be on the same page for once.

* * *

You know how Faith said she wasn't entirely sure if Buffy felt the 'horny' part of H&H? Well, she's sure now.

They didn't find Darla, but they did dust a little over a dozen vamps between them. By the time they ended up back at Faith's place, they were both feeling that other H so hard that they barely even made it through the door. It took forever for Faith to get her key in the lock as Buffy's lips were attached to hers at the time, though when she did finally get it open they nearly ended up falling on their asses because they were both so firmly pressed against the door. Thankfully they managed to stumble into the far wall, so it broke their fall. Not that they probably would have noticed or cared otherwise.

Clothing was shed immediately; something that Buffy initiated by nearly ripping Faith's shirt clean from her body. Faith isn't really sure what her endgame is in all of this, because even though she said they would have sex soon, it doesn't necessarily mean she's ready now. However, Faith starts to question her motives less once Buffy forcefully tugs on her leathers, silently demanding they come off of her. She's never done that before, so Faith's figuring the chances of them actually going all the way tonight are getting pretty damn high. Within moments they're both naked and Faith's on her knees, doing the one thing she _knows_ she has permission to do.

"Yes… oh _god_," Buffy pants, putting her leg over Faith's shoulder as her hands tangle in her hair. She bites her lower lip; face etched in pleasure as she thrusts her hips towards her face in a desperate attempt to feel more of Faith's mouth on her. Faith's tongue maps every inch of her sex, her teeth lightly scraping over her clit in a way that makes Buffy jump, crying out softly in pleasure. "Faith… baby…" she breathes, encouraging her with her words as her fingers tighten their grip on Faith's hair.

She's clearly gotten over the weirdness factor, which Faith is extremely thankful for right about now. While Buffy's insecurities can be cute, right now she just wanted to do what she does best without all the awkwardness. Though then again, if this really is gonna end up being the first time they have sex, Faith knows that's a pretty tall order.

"Oh god; that feels… _ohh,"_ Buffy pants, tossing her head to the side so that her cheek is pressed against the coolness of the wall. Her fingernails are starting to dig into Faith's scalp and it's actually starting to hurt, so Faith retaliates by biting on the inside of Buffy's thigh. Not hard, but hard enough to make her point.

Or at least she thought.

Instead of getting the hint, the violence only seems to egg Buffy on more and she almost yanks Faith's hair from her damn head. Faith cries out in pain (and maybe a little pleasure) and she stands up quickly, slamming her hands on either side of Buffy's head. The noise is so loud it makes the blonde jump, but her squeal of surprise is swallowed by Faith's tongue invading her mouth again. Buffy throws her arms around Faith's neck and moans, wrapping one of her legs around her hips. Faith groans at the feeling of Buffy's wet pussy against her skin and bites a little roughly on Buffy's bottom lip, making the blonde's hips buck against hers.

Faith, wanting to feel more of her, lifts Buffy's leg up over her shoulder, pressing her hard against the wall. Buffy being a cheerleader is definitely helping with this position since her limber body adhered to it without any trouble. Faith groans as she feels Buffy's wetness smear across her stomach and she plunges her tongue deeper into her mouth, eliciting a whimper from the girl beneath her. Her whole body is starting to heat up, the Slayer tingles are starting to go haywire, and Faith wants nothing more than to slide her fingers deep inside Buffy and fuck her until she cums screaming her name.

"B, I wanna…" she breathes against her lips, the rest of her sentence interrupted by Buffy plunging her tongue into her mouth again. Faith thinks she may be trying to avoid it, that is at least until she whispers one, simple word across her lips.

"Please…"

Faith doesn't need any other invitation. Her hand snakes between their bodies until she covers Buffy's sex with her hand, her fingers delving into her wetness and slipping against her clit. Buffy's hips buck slightly and she closes her eyes, her breath coming out short and heavy. She tangles her fingers in Faith's hair and lets her head fall back against the wall, causing a bang that gets overshadowed by a loud moan.

Faith's lips crash against hers almost violently, swallowing the loud cry that Buffy emits as the brunette slides two fingers deep inside of her. Faith groans against her lips, feeling Buffy clench around her digits in a way that makes her clit jump and arousal pour down her thighs. "Oh fuck, oh my god…" Buffy whimpers, burying her head in the brunette's neck. Her lips are sliding against her smooth skin, tasting a hint of salt from the light sheen of sweat that's already begun to form all over Faith's body. The blonde's breathing is ragged against her ear and she cries out softly as Faith's thumb slips over her clit while her fingers are buried up to the knuckles inside of her.

As Faith continues to slam her fingers inside of her, twisting them a little to enhance the pleasure against her g spot, one of Buffy's hands comes up above her head, holding onto the edge of the wall as she uses the leverage to push her hips deeper into Faith. "Uggff… Faith…" she breathes, eyes shut tightly with overwhelming pleasure. Faith's pretty sure seeing her like that, head thrown back and eyes closed in wanton abandon, is probably the sexiest fucking thing she's ever seen in her life.

It isn't long before the combined effort of Faith's fingers and her thumb slipping over her clit has Buffy's insides clenching hard, her mouth open in a silent gasp. Her eyes pop open for a second and Faith notices the look of sheer panic mixed with all the pleasure as she gets close. She's starting to freak out about the feeling again. "Faith… I… oh God, I think… I… I _can't…"_ she stumbles through her panting gasps, fingers digging into the brunette's shoulder blade. She tries to pull herself away, but finds herself trapped between the wall and Faith and there's no where she can go.

"You can," Faith tells her, a throaty whisper in her ear. "And I'm gonna make you." Buffy's gonna cum no matter what at this point; Faith's determined. Buffy looks halfway between turned on by that and terrified out of her mind and as she gets closer she starts slapping her hand on Faith's shoulder really hard; not trying to push her away, but probably trying to get her to slow down. But Faith doesn't know the meaning of slow. Her thumb slips against Buffy's clit mercilessly and her fingertips make their home against Buffy's g spot and when Faith feels the pulsing start around her fingers, she grins a mile wide.

Fuck yeah.

Faith knew Buffy had a set of lungs on her, but _damn_. She screams something completely unintelligible yet still sounds like goddamn bloody _murder_ as her pussy contracts and an insane amount of fluid comes gushing out of her. Faith's eyes go wide as she feels it cover her hand and even part of her stomach. It's warm, it's sticky, and it's probably the hottest damn thing Faith's ever felt before.

Holy mother fucking shit, that was _so_ cool.

"_Dude,"_ Faith exclaims, grinning from ear to ear, looking at Buffy like she's the eighth wonder in the world for that performance. Buffy doesn't seem to notice though because the orgasm seems to take too much out of her and her knees buckle. "Shit!" Faith exclaims, catching her just in time before she hits the floor. "You okay?" she asks, out of breath as she looks down at her.

"I'm… fucking _lovely…"_ Buffy replies, sounding a little dazed as her eyes close. Her head slumps against Faith's shoulder and Faith swears, more than aware that Buffy just passed out on her; her body just got heavier from going completely limp. She should have known that was going to be wicked intense for her; she should have planned this better. Like, Buffy should have fucked _her _first. God damnit.

Even though it sucks, Faith can't really find it in her to get mad about it. She made Buffy cum; something no one else has ever been able to do, not even Buffy herself. So she carries her to her bed and places her down, figuring as much as it sucks, she'll just have to take care of her little problem on her own. At least this time when she masturbates she can stare at Buffy's naked body; gotta find that silver lining.

Faith settles in next to Buffy and wastes no time sliding her cum coated fingers into her own heat, finding something really sexy about mixing their arousal. She groans softly and turns her head to look at her sleeping girlfriend, her eyes roaming every dip and curve of her figure. She wishes Buffy was awake for this more than anything, if not for helping her out than to just watch. There would be something _really _sexy about having Buffy watch her masturbate.

That thought alone drives Faith forward and she presses on her clit harder, closing her eyes for a moment as the pleasure sparks through every inch of her body. "Fuck," she breathes, pushing her hips further into her hand. It doesn't take long before her whole body's heated up and she's gasping hard into the silence of the room. One of her hands is resting on Buffy's hip while the other is taking care of business and for a second, she thought she was imagining the feel of Buffy quietly stirring. That is, until Faith feels a hand that's not hers slip over her abdomen and down to rest atop hers, stilling her motions.

"Don't," Buffy tells her, voice hoarse as she struggles to become fully conscience. She's more than aware of what's going on though, that's for sure.

"B, I gotta—" Faith tries, her voice filled with desperation. She needs to get off; it's bordering on unbearable now.

"I know," Buffy replies softly, hoisting herself up into a sitting position. "Just… give me a second, okay? My head is still swimming; I think I might have blacked out." She looks really confused all of a sudden as she takes everything in, pressing her palm to her temple to try to level herself out.

Patience is so _not _something that Faith has right now, but she grits her teeth as she clasps her hands together, trying to control herself. She was so fucking close. And yeah, Buffy doing it would be better, but Faith's always down for seconds too. Apparently Buffy doesn't want her doing the job she's supposed to be doing though, which at least shows how far she's come with the whole… lesbian thing. She still looks nervous; actually _really_ nervous now that's she beginning to fully awaken, but she doesn't tell Faith never mind, or to continue with what she was doing. Instead she leans in, kissing Faith softly on the lips.

"Um…" she starts as she gently climbs on top of her, looking down at Faith like she's trying to convince herself she isn't dreaming. "You'll… tell me if I'm doing it wrong, right?" Faith probably shouldn't find her timid vulnerability sexy, yet she does. Then again, right now she'd probably find a banana sexy; she's that turned on. Well, maybe that was a bad example; bananas are incredibly phallic shaped.

Regardless.

"Honestly, you could probably just fuckin'_ blow_ on me right now and I'd cum," Faith replies, chest still heaving as she squirms a little beneath her, desperate for her touch. "Don't think you can do anything wrong at this point."

"But—"

"_B."_

"Yeah, sorry," Buffy apologizes, looking a little flustered from the pressure this situation entails. She takes a breath, hesitating again. "Do you… uh, do you want me to go _down_ on you, or do you…?"

This is too much talking.

"You think too much," Faith tells her impatiently, before she wraps her hand around the back of Buffy's neck, pulling her in to crash their lips together. Her other hand seeks out Buffy's and guides it to where she needs her to go and the moment the blonde's slender fingers slide through her heat she groans into her mouth, lifting her hips to match each one of Buffy's slow, nervous strokes. She's fumbling a little but honestly, it didn't fucking matter. Just the feeling of Buffy touching her makes Faith go wild and she kisses her harder, trying to silently encourage her.

Faith's moans seem to give Buffy some confidence because she finally slides two of her fingers inside of her, seemingly losing her breath for a moment from the feeling of being completely and intimately surrounded by Faith. "Yeah, like that…" Faith encourages breathlessly as Buffy begins to move her fingers in an out of her. Their breathing each other's air and though Faith's eyes are closed, she can feel Buffy looking down at her intently. When Buffy's thumb slips over her clit Faith cries out, sliding her hands up the blonde's hips and to her back where she digs her nails in, furiously pumping her hips against her hand in a desperate need to get off.

Buffy's matching exactly what Faith did to her not an hour previously; monkey see, monkey do, apparently. Which is probably an awful thought to have about her girlfriend but it's not like she can stop the random things that pop into her head when she's getting fucked. But because of that, Faith figures maybe it is a good thing that she ended up doing her first because Buffy probably wouldn't have the first clue where to begin if she didn't—

Faith loses track of all competent thought and focus as Buffy increases the pressure on her clit while beginning to leave hot, open mouth kisses all along her collar bone. "Fuck, Buffy…" Faith moans, sliding one of her hands upwards to weave in golden locks as she feels herself begin to hover over the edge of oblivion. But then Buffy hits one _really_ nice spot and she screams, slamming her hand into the wall behind her bed so hard that the plaster cracks from the force. Her inner muscles are spasming, Faith's swearing at the top of her lungs, and she hits the wall for a second time as her back arches, her toes curl, and she touches the fucking _sky._

This is the best goddamn day ever.

When Faith comes down and is finally aware of what's going on, she hears Buffy giggling. "What?" Faith asks, her voice coming out mumbled and practically incoherent.

"You just ruined your wall," Buffy replies, apparently finding this hilarious. "You should see it. It's like—"

"Fuck my wall," Faith mumbles as she blindly reaches for Buffy, pulling her closer so their lips can connect again in another long, passionate kiss. Her hands map every inch of the blonde's body while her tongue invades her mouth, giving herself enough time to recuperate from her high until suddenly she pushes Buffy off of her, moving so she's the one on top now. She smirks down at Buffy's perplexed expression. She probably thought it was cuddling time.

"Again?" she asks, like the concept is inconceivable.

"Welcome to Slayer stamina, B," Faith replies, smirking as she watches Buffy's expression turn from one of perplexity to one of arousal as she scratches her nails lightly up her stomach and over her breasts. "Or, at least a better use for it," Faith finishes, giving her a wicked smile before she leans down, capturing one of Buffy's nipples between her lips, eliciting a soft whimper from the girl beneath her.

Yeah, they were definitely gonna be here for _awhile…_

**TBC…**


End file.
